Women’s undisputed middleweight champion Claressa Shields once again provoked public discussions after reiterating that she she would defeat Thurman in a gender crossover match. While Thurman has thus far heavily downplayed the notion of the match ever occurring, Shields appears about her chances and expressed as such during a recent behind-the-scenes interview.

“Keith Thurman is not that great of a boxer,” Claressa Shields (14-0, 2 KO’s) asserted to Gillie Da Kid [Nasir Fard] from the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast.

“Is he strong? Yes. But what else? I’m just being honest with you, what else? He ain’t boxed for two years; he’s about to fight on March 30th against Tim Tszyu, Tszyu is gonna knock his a** out. That’s the truth.

“I’m bigger than Keith Thurman―I’m a woman, but I’m bigger. I’m longer, I got better skills, and then he talking about, oh he only got to land once. You got to land more than once to get me out of there, but how is he going to take the punches that I give to him? Keith Thurman can take no body shots.“

Shields had made similar statements in the past in what appeared to be a genuine callout to Keith Thurman (30-1, 22 KO’s), however, Thurman then reacted by proposing for them to fight in an exhibition for charity but seemed to have no interest in a professional bout with the middleweight champion.

There appears to be no incident that occurred between the two that ignited this one-sided beef in which Shields regards herself as a superior boxer. During her most recent statements, Shields partially regarded herself as at least physically better than Keith Thurman, basing her beliefs on solely her size rather than the more intricate parts of a human’s development such as muscle density.

In science, it is generally accepted that male athletes are stronger than female athletes which has led to the formation of sports being separated on gender. Shields’ claims of being bigger than Thurman might also not be entirely accurate, as Thurman is listed as 5’7 1/2 while Shields is regarded as only 1/2 inches bigger at 5’8―which would barely be a factor if both fighters were of the same sex. In regards to reach, Thurman appears to have an edge with his reach of 69 inches compared to Shields’ 68 inches.

Given both Thurman and Shields appear close in size physically, it is highly improbable that Shields claims of being bigger would actually translate to her strength being greater than Thurman’s, though Shields does fight as a middleweight as opposed to Thurman who has fought as a welterweight for the majority of his career.

Shields’ affirmation of being more skilled than Thurman is also up to debate, as Thurman was considered one of the most skilled fighters during his tenure as a world champion from 2015 to 2019 after several fights that saw him face other competitors of elite ability including the likes of Danny “Swift” Garcia and Shawn Porter; both of whom he defeated.

When comparing all of Claressa Shields’ former opponents to Keith Thurman, there is a wide gap in ability and credentials that exists, barring the differences that come by way of gender. Shields’ opponents were never as battle-tested or well-developed as Thurman’s―which is the norm in boxing as there are more male competitors than female competitors which has led to the men enjoying better training as well as participating in more/higher quality fights.

Claressa Shields also believed that Keith Thurman would not be able to take her punches, which does boil down to the difference in gender between the two Americans, but without going into the direction can be observed by the KO ratios of both fighters. Thurman has beaten twenty-two opponents out of thirty wins by knockout/stoppage, which puts his KO percentage at approximately 73%, while Shields only managed to stop/knockout two opponents out of all the fourteen fights that she has participated in and won to put her KO rate at roughly 14%.

In no shape or form does this suggest that Thurman won’t be able to take her punches as Claressa Shields has proven unable to knockout or stop fighters while fighting in a higher weight class as opposed to when Keith Thurman was active as a welterweight. In fact, it is more likely that Shields is at a steep disadvantage when it comes to strength even in the case of gender differences being ignored.

Then there is the matter of competitiveness, with Thurman being used to fighting twelve rounds that last three minutes, while Shields has only ever fought two-minute rounds over ten rounds in total―with only Amanda Serrano (46-2-1, 30 KO’s) and Danila Ramos (12-3, 1 KO’s) having thus far been the only female competitors to ever compete in a three-minute/twelve-round match.

Keith Thurman was recently approached on why Shields was consistently calling him out and the former unified welterweight champion outlined the rationale behind Shields’ efforts to fight him:

“Because I can sell a fight,” Thurman stated to The Clinch Review when asked on his opinion about Shields’ callouts.

“I can sell a fight―I can make you want to watch Thurman-Shields. But at the end of the day, what’s there in it for me? It would have to be for something so positive, something beyond the sport, for me to actually do it.

“Keith Thurman has no problems putting his skills and talent on the line. I have no problem doing some equal gender right thing, [but] they [female fighters] don’t even box three-minute rounds. She’s not a twelve-round fighter.“