Claressa Shields recently appeared on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast to address the viral clip from her appearance on Justin LeBoy’s podcast, where she claimed she could beat Rolly Romero. The undisputed heavyweight champion wasted no time making her case.
“I’ve been sparring against boys and men for 20 years. That’s two decades of boxing. I didn’t say I’mma go in there and knock Rolly out. I didn’t say I can overpower him. I said I can outbox him. I’ve outboxed plenty of men who are professional boxers inside the ring,” she said. “You cannot speak doubt into my skills and what I can do, Shannon.”
Shields pushed back on Shannon’s suggestion that Romero would stop her, pointing to pure boxing skill over physical strength.
“Just because somebody is stronger don’t mean that they can win in no matches. That’s not how it works. I promise you it’s not.”
She used Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury as her example: “Deontay Wilder had 41 knockouts. He gets in there with a pure boxer like Tyson Fury and lose. This is men to men. But I am telling you, skill to skill.”
When Shannon pressed her on a potential sanctioned match, Shields was direct: “So you saying that if it’s money and belt on the line and I got me a two or three month camp, you telling me that Rolly going to knock me out?”
She then laid out exactly how she would prepare. “If I go and watch film on Rolly and I go and really dissect him and see where he do good and where he do bad, I’m telling you, I know that my skill can be the most.”
She continued: “If I really did my homework, and really have to sit there with it and prepare. I’m going to go and spar against Keyshawn Davis. I’m going to have to call up Teofimo. I’m going to have to call up Shakur…. I’m going to have to call Terence Crawford…. And I guarantee you if I done that, the truth is in the pudding and I will win.”
On the 2018 knockdown that critics frequently bring up, Shields had a clear explanation: “That guy is a ch**t. He didn’t have no padding in his gloves. And if it’s not true, why hasn’t him and his coach sued me yet?” She added that she has never been knocked down before or since those incidents.
On Cris Cyborg, who has been commenting on social media, Shields was brief: “She’s a bum. Cris Cyborg cannot box and she knows that. She says my name because she’s not relevant no more.”
Shields closed with a message about her mindset: “The way how I believe in myself, it is not to intimidate you, but that is what greats have to do. And I am a great. I’ve been a great for a long time and I know what I can and what I cannot do.”
