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Claressa Shields wants to take her beef with Jake Paul into the squared circle.
The current dual-weight unified women’s boxing champion has been moonlighting as a mixed martial artist over the last year for the Professional Fighters League. Her most recent bout in October ended in a split decision loss to Abigail Montes.
Ahead of the Montes fight, Shields said she’d beat Paul with one hand tied behind her back.
The comments drew the ire of Paul, who fired back and said: “The truth hurts but it’s necessary. Claressa Shields is a loser. In MMA, and even more so with her prima donna attitude. The fake always get exposed. Losses come when anger and hate take over. Just ask (Ronda) Rousey and (Conor) McGregor. She spent more time berating Jake Paul than learning Jiu Jitsu,” Paul wrote on social media.
“(Shields has) never been a big draw and unfortunately for her she never will be. Amanda Serrano (the GWOAT), though, has 30 KOs in 42 fights. 2-0 in MMA, both wins by submission. Congrats Abigail Montes on the win.”
Shields is now adding to the next chapter of the intergender saga with comments of her own.
“He isn’t even going to take an offer to come and spar me,” Shields told Sports Illustrated. “I have put $100,000 on the table. And whoever wins in sparring can walk away with the money. And I bet I will walk away with the dough, Jake Paul would not risk it. Nobody on his team would tell him to risk it, because they know he can’t do anything with me. Despite all of my accomplishments I had this MMA split decision loss, and he was like ‘Amanda Serrano is better, she’s this and that.’ You don’t even have an accomplishment to say my name.
“You’ve never been to the Olympics. What did you make, the Olympics on YouTube? That s— doesn’t exist. That’s fake. When it comes to the real world of boxing, Jake Paul will never be a world champion. He can just keep picking his opponents. Him coming at me, it made him feel better about himself, you still suck at boxing. You still don’t have any accomplishments. You still wouldn’t dare get in the same ring with me, let alone spar. And, he’s just not even worth wasting my breath. The dude is pathetic.”
Should a sparring session and battle of the sexes ever take place between the two, it certainly will have to wait.
Shields is set to take on Ema Kozin on Dec. 11, while Paul will take on Tommy Fury on Dec. 18.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com