Boxing
Claressa Shields says super fights against Amanda Nunes should pay them 'millions'
Claressa Shields has made her mixed martial arts ambitions clear.
The undisputed women's middleweight champion told DAZN News earlier in the week that she'll have a mini MMA camp with UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones shortly following her boxing bout against Ivana Habazin on Friday night. If all goes well there, Shields wants to make her MMA debut by the end of this year.
Shields wants the training to serve as an eventual launching pad for a pair of super fights against UFC women's double champ, Amanda Nunes, in boxing and MMA. The 24-year-old Shields has already said that she thinks her vs. Nunes would be better than the August 2017 clash between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Conor McGregor. And she isn't mincing words about how she and Nunes should get paid for the pair of bouts, either.
"(Nunes) said she wanted $1 million to get inside the ring with me," Shields started telling DN. "I told the team, I told (manager) Mark (Taffet), Showtime, 'Give her $2 million, whatever you gotta do to get her in there because it's worth the pay.' Still, give me my money too — $2 (million) $3 million, whatever, because a fight of that caliber is going to have high viewership, pay-per-views, all that.
"So, for me, then doing a fight in MMA ... it's millions," Shields continued. "She asked for $1 (million), $2 (million), but I feel like a fight like that, $5 million apiece type of deal to do it in boxing because it would get so much clout and make whoever is putting on the fight so much money. I feel like with them making money, us as fighters should make money also. Same thing for MMA — it'd be a mega, million-dollar fight. It'd make MMA a lot of money and it's definitely something that can happen.
While Shields eyes the bouts with Nunes for down the line, she additionally told DN that she doesn't see an MMA clash with friends Cris Cyborg nor Kayla Harrison happening, although she'd welcome the opportunity to train with either.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist additionally told DN that she expects Nunes to be in attendance at the Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, N.J. on Friday night for her fight against Habazin. Shields watched Nunes defend her UFC women's bantamweight title in a unanimous decision victory over Germaine de Randamie last month in Las Vegas.
