Two time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields bounced back from a split decision loss in MMA back in October of 2021 to win an important boxing bout against Ema Kozin on Saturday night, easily outpointing her opponent 100-90 on all three scorecards.
While the fight wasn’t exactly exciting, the aftermath certainly was. The Kozin fight, held in Cardiff, Wales, was largely a set-up to face popular British rival Savannah Marshall. And following the bout, the two had a shared interview that quickly spiraled into a pro wrestling taunt off, with both Marshall and Shields tossing insults.
Watch the video here:
‘Where your gold medals at?’
Things get HEATED between @Savmarshall1 and @Claressashields #EubankJrWilliams | TONIGHT | Motorpoint Arena | @SkySportsBoxing pic.twitter.com/Th89ya77fI
— BOXXER (@boxxer) February 5, 2022
“If you perform like that against me, I’ll absolutely wipe the floor with you,” Marshall declared. “You went 10 rounds with an absolute child. People were walking out after round five! Pillow fists. Pillow fists!”
“You couldn’t wipe my drawers,” Shields replied. “You can’t do s—t with me. I’m no punk, I’m not scared, that’s why I’m here. You didn’t come to America, I came here. You didn’t come to me. I’m chasing you! We can go!”
“Where your gold medals at?” she added. “Where your gold medals at? Zero!”
In addition to her two gold medals, Shields holds the WBA, WBC, IBF, and The Ring middleweight titles. The win over Kozin on Saturday night added the WBF middleweight title to her collection.
Savannah Marshall holds the lone remaining middleweight strap of importance, the WBO women’s middleweight title. But before her and Shields can scrap it out and unify the division, she’ll have to get past Femke Hermans on March 12.
“Femke’s gonna give you so much hell,” Shields declared. “Femke’s gonna give you hell, bum. Bum!”
Shields better hope that isn’t the case, because a fight against Marshall is much bigger money than Femke. Especially now that they have this extra bad blood to promote the fight with.
As for those wondering when we might see Claressa Shields back in MMA? PFL promoter Peter Murray may not have a firm date, but he does have firm intent.
“Yes, Claressa will be back [in the PFL] – she’s committed to becoming a two-sport athlete in both boxing and MMA,” Murray said in January 2022. “It’s an incredible story, Claressa is a superstar and fans will get to see how far she can go in two sports at the highest level.”