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It’s not getting the eye it deserves as a result of girls’s boxing hasn’t been in a position to break by means of into the mainstream regardless of a major inflow in its expertise stage within the final 5 years, however what Claressa Shields is trying is massively vital.
Shields is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a three-weight world champion as a professional and an undisputed champion at two weight lessons.
She’s on the peak of her powers, considered the most effective in her sport, and but she’s willingly switching sports activities midstream.
On Thursday, Shields, , will make her skilled MMA debut in Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, when she faces Brittney Elkin at PFL 4 on ESPN.
“I simply felt like I by no means acquired my simply due in boxing,” stated Shields, who’s 11-0 with two KOs as a boxer. “Being a 12-time world champion and about to turn out to be a 20-time world champion, it might be very straightforward for me to do, however what wouldn’t it do for me? Wouldn’t it make me an even bigger star, a family title or wouldn’t it make me a millionaire?”
Shields got here to the conclusion — appropriately — that none of these issues would occur, which is perplexing.
Girls’s MMA is accepted the identical approach as males’s MMA is and it’s not a giant deal to see girls headline the most important playing cards.
In girls’s boxing, although — significantly within the U.S. — it’s arduous to get any traction and few promoters put money into it.
“The reality is, it wouldn’t open up any extra doorways for extra, aside from what’s already been opened,” she stated. “I must hold preventing this fashion for equal pay and equal alternative and getting girls equal battle time. I’ve been working so arduous in boxing for therefore a few years, if I’m going to work so arduous at one thing, a minimum of let me reap what I sow.”
And so she opted to go to MMA, and signed with the PFL. One of many lures is the million greenback prize the PFL offers to every of its champions on the finish of the season.
The largest purse she made in boxing was $350,000, in order that was fairly a lure.
She’s coaching at JacksonWink MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and has realized from not solely the coaches however former UFC champions Jon Jones and Holly Holm.
If she’s good at MMA, and together with her arms and four-ounce gloves on, she has a superb head begin on it and she or he might make a fortune. The PFL would salivate over a battle between Shields and Kayla Harrison, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in judo.
A Harrison-Shields battle could be a significant occasion within the battle world ought to it happen.
Shields is a good distance from that time now. She has to show she will be able to defend takedowns and submission makes an attempt and might take in kicks. It’s no straightforward job, which is why that is so not often executed.
Preventing with four-ounce gloves in MMA could be to her benefit as a boxer, however she has to ensure she has the takedown protection to stay on her toes.
“There are such a lot of other ways to win in MMA,” Shields stated. “My punching issues, in fact, however we have now been doing so many different issues than simply my punching. There have been so many different drills we’ve executed than simply punching.
“We’ve added extra strikes in addition to my jab and proper cross. We added another strikes, added some takedowns, added some protection. It’s been lots. I’m trying ahead to carrying four-ounces gloves, however I’m going to maintain my thoughts open to utilizing every little thing to get the W.”
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