Claressa Shields (17-0, 3 KO’s) has declared to be entering free agency following her almost-decade long tenure with Salita Promotions who scooped her up early during her professional career.
First joining Salita Promotions in June of 2017, Shields’ decision to join Dmitry Salita’s, a former professional, promotion was due to the promotion having made a base in Detroit, which in turn is based in Shields’ home state of Michigan and situated close to her home city of Flint.
Under the Salita Promotions banner, Shields became the face of the promotion as she went on to fight a total of 9 times in the Michigan state out of the 17 fights she fought professionally. Throughout this period, Shields became undisputed [in the current four-belt era] on three occasions ― a historical feat only recently matched by Oleksandr Usyk ― and fought an array of world champions.
Despite the impressive list of accolades and achievements in women’s boxing, Shields has struggled to make high earnings and appears to have now decided it’s time to look for greener pastures as she confirmed her decision to enter free agency:
“I’ve been with Salita [Promotions] since I was 21 and now I’m 30,” Shields stated during an appearance on the Ariel x Ade show.
“I had a great working relationship with Salita Promotions, with Dmitry [Salita]. He’s not just my promoter, he’s a friend of mine and we’ve done great business together, and we’ve grown together. So I’m not saying I’m not willing to do more business with him.
“It’s just more of I want to see what is the best opportunity for me. I’ve been boxing for a long time and everyone knows that I haven’t got my best paydays and I haven’t gotten the recognition as far as in like [pound-for-pound] number one, winning the ESPY and all that stuff.
“I believe that I should be getting paid $5-15 million a fight. The past couple years, I’ve been able to get paid a million, a million-five, a million-eight. Now, it’s like, how do I get that to, you know, three, five, 10 million?
“You know, who has the best deal? And I’ve also already beat the best already. So when they talk about who else is there to fight. Hey, it’s not my fault that these girls, I beat them early, but now the girls who are now champions, it’s like, hey, you know, if they’re willing to pay me for these big fights, I’m willing to fight whoever as always. It just has to make sense. So, I’m really just weighing my options to be honest.“
With Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) having distinguished itself as the ideal destination for female fighters, Shields further has options to unite with Matchroom ― who has turned the likes of Katie Taylor and Terri Harper into stars, while another option remains for her to link up with other promotions on one-fight contracts while continuing to enjoy free agency.
Given the lack of names in her own weight category of the women’s heavyweight (175+ lbs) division, Shields would likely be forced to move down to super middleweight (168 lbs) where the only eyecatching fights could see her face either of the two unified champions in the division; WBA and WBC champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn (10-2, 2 KO’s) and WBO and IBF champion Shadasia Green (16-1, 11 KO’s).
A fight between Shields and Crews remains one of the most significant fights available, with both fighters having debuted against each other in 2016 with Shields coming out of on top.
With Green there appears to be clear animosity after the two fell out in the past while being close friends, which could form the basis of an extensive promotional campaign that could potentially draw more eyes than a Shields-Crews fight.
A rematch with Savannah Marshall (13-2, 10 KO’s), whom Claressa Shields beat in 2022 to become undisputed at middleweight (160 lbs) for the second time of her career, also remains a distinct possibility, but for now is unlikely to garner the same amount of interest as the aforementioned fights due to Marshall’s lack of titles.
Lastly, a bout against the retired 47-year old Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, is considered plausible by Shields who debunked notions of Ali being too aged and ring-rusted to fight after clarifying Ali has maintained she could beat Shields on multiple occasions since retiring.
“[I would] just be proving to her that I’m a better fighter than her,” Shields told Ariel Helwani when asked on what she’d be proving fighting Laila Ali.
“That’s all that really matters to me. It’s about the disrespect that she gives toward me and I work my butt off to get to where I am, without having a famous father to get to where I am, and to raise the bar for women’s boxing. That’s my issue with her.
“She said she don’t need long to get in the ring and come back and beat me. I ain’t got enough power. I’m not big enough. I’m not skilled enough. Those are words out of her mouth. So therefore, I just ain’t s***, right? So she shouldn’t need all that time. Everybody making all these excuses for her, but she’s sitting there telling y’all that she’s in the gym. She’s training. She don’t got all the wear and tear that I got on my body.
“She doesn’t have that [wear and tear] ’cause she hasn’t been inside the ring. But said that she’s been training and that [if] you give her enough time and give her enough money, she will come back in. She could beat me and she could knock me out. So, my only motivation is to show her that you can’t beat me and you damn sure can’t knock me out.“
Ali has notably been retired since 2007 after a career at super middleweight and light-heavyweight (175 lbs) where she conquered multiple world titles. Retiring undefeated, Ali has admitted to only wishing to return to the ring against potentially Claressa Shields if the finances were right and recently re-affirmed this stance when she indicated $15 million as a number that could get her back to boxing:
“The rumor that I heard was that I said that unless somebody had #15-20 million, don’t even call me about this. That’s all,” Ali cheekily told FightHype after making an appearance at MVP’s show that headlined the trilogy bout between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.
“Unless somebody calls me and says they have it, we’re not going to have a conversation. I’m not trying to come back and fight, but if someone offered that kind of money, I would actually have to think about it.“
By continuously asserting she might come back for the right price, Laila Ali has opened up a floodgates of rumors of a fight with Claressa Shields that has persisted for several years.
Whether the fight can actually happen seems up to The Ring owner Turki Alalshikh who retains the financial means to easily make the fight but has not shown an acute interest in women’s boxing to make the prospect of a Shields-Ali fight a reality.
