NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 16: Claressa Shields attends The Women in Sports Foundation 40th Annual Salute to Women in Sports Awards Gala, celebrating the most accomplished women in sports and the girls they inspire at Cipriani Wall Street on October 16, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Women In Sports Foundation)
After winning world championships in three weight divisions in just 10 fights as a professional boxer, Claressa Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist signed a contract to compete in the Professional Fighters League.
Shields has been training in New Mexico with Jon ‘Bones’ Jones.
While on the Heavy Live With Scoop B, I asked Shields if she could see Jones transitioning into the WWE. “I can see Johnny Bones making a transition from MMA to boxing,” she told me.
“Heavyweight boxing. That’s what I see. I don’t see WWE. To me, that’s more like a clown show; the WWE. Johnny Bones is a serious person especially when it comes to training and his teaching. We’ve had two classes to where I spent countless hours with Johnny Bones and he was teaching me and breaking stuff down that looked so complex, but breaking it down into 1-2-3-4…breaking it down into steps from the beginning. So I look at him as a serious guy. So if I was to show him what I know in boxing and shows me what he knows in MMA, I believe that when he learns these simple basics with his hands and how to stand…Awww man. I think he would be so freakin’ dangerous in boxing because he’s really just… inside that cage. I mean, we all seen it. He’s a DANGEROUS guy.”
Shields also touched on a few topics including her desire to step into the ring with Laila Ali.
Boxing ring or MMA octagon?
“It don’t matter,” said Shields.
“I can beat her in both. I’d just rather see her in the ring. That’s it. But, what I’m not going to do is I’m not going to speak on her to steal my shine. Like, I’m the one making this transition, you know? She didn’t — like I said, she did a lot in her career; she fought against soccer moms, she beat ‘em, and she’s Muhammad Ali’s daughter so, she gets credit for it. Congrats to her but, I’m doing something that NO other woman boxer had done successfully and that’s transition into MMA, and be the World Champion in boxing and also go and try to be a World Champion in MMA. And I’m going to do it and I’m going to do it simultaneously at the same time! So once that’s done, I don’t think there’s going to be anymore arguments on who’s the best combo fighter in the world. It’ll be hands down myself.”
Ronda Rousey dominated in MMA before making her rounds in the WWE. Is she the best in the world?
“Ronda Rousey,” asked Shields.
“She had her time but, we have Amanda Nunez who knocked her out; we have Holly Holm who knocked out Ronda Rousey first; and then we have Amanda Nunez who knocked out Holly Holm… I kind of feel like that it’s just the timing of everything. We have so many — and then we have Cris Cyborg who you can’t count out who Amanda Nunez also beat. You really can’t count out any of these girls. But Ronda Rousey has been retired or just hasn’t been fighting for a few years now, so I have to give the nod to Amanda Nunez at the moment or Cris Cyborg. One of the two.”