Shields: Price Must ‘Come To America If She Wants Smoke’

[Ruthless-RKO]

Shields: Price Must ‘Come To America If She Wants Smoke’

Reigning female undisputed heavyweight champion Claressa Shields was a surprise visitor on Saturday night.

The Detroit native made the hush-hush trip to the Welsh capital to watch welterweight Lauren Price successfully defend her titles against Stephanie Pineiro ahead of a potential superfight.

"She's Olympic champion, and she's undefeated, she's hungry, and she feels she's the next best and skilled enough that she can beat me in a fight," Shields (18-0, 3 KOs) told The Ring.

Price is naturally smaller, competing at 147 pounds, while Shields has won world titles at middleweight, super middleweight and is the current heavyweight champion. Shields, who defeated Ema Kozin (UD 10) in Cardiff in January 2022, is happy to entertain her rival but says she's the A-side and calling the shots.

"I believe 160 is the lowest option, really 165, honestly," she said. "For some who complain about me being too big and strong, I would try and eat a few less burgers to get down to 160."

Another question is where the fight would take place.

"You want me to come to the UK, you pay me that money," she said. "Lauren fought in front of 7,000, I fought in front of 18,000. I've had sold-out events in my last three fights. We know I'm a big draw. "As far as me and Price, I am the bigger star. I'm the more accomplished fighter. I am pound-for-pound No. 1. She wants to be mentioned in those names, but it's always me coming to get these girls and not these girls coming to get me. I don't think Lauren is big enough for me to come over here in the UK. She has to come to America if she wants the smoke.

"I'm not going to say the fight's off or can't be made if she says, 'I'm too scared to come to America, I want to fight here.' I'll be like, 'It's OK.'"

While Price is smaller, she believes her speed would help her upset Shields. The self-styled "GWOAT" disagrees.

"Lauren is not faster than me," she said. "I saw the film. You're 5-foot-5, you look fast, your arms are short, you're not faster than me. No, your speed is not faster than mine, your footwork is not better than mine, you don't punch harder than me. As far as defense, we know you've got to work on that."

Shields. who claimed gold at the 2012 and '16 Olympics before turning professional in the fall of '16, remains unbeaten and says she always finds a way to win. She expects that if the Price fight happens, she would bring out her best.

"I'm very hard to beat. You can be stronger, you can be faster, you can have more fights, you can be bigger, you can be smaller, and I still dominate," she said.

"I'm looking forward to fighting a girl who has some of that same experience, Olympic champion, undefeated. I’ve fought girls who were undefeated, but they weren't Olympic champions. I think Olympic champions are very, very hard to beat, because, of course, I am one."

[Ruthless-RKO]

The fight is bigger in UK than in the US.

Shields knows this and should know this from when she fought Savannah Marshall over here few years back.

Price ain’t no Marshall and I think Shields will win, but it’s probably gonna be in front of 500 people in US.

They can make an event out of this and have way more.

[Boxerbeetle]

Shields is much too big for Price.

[stujones]

Yeah, think if Price could entice Savannah Marshall back, that would be a tall order for the Welsh lass. shields would be both too big and too good.

[lookingaround87]

I thought this was Ronnie Shields talking about David Price, that's how little women's boxing means to me.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Claressa Shields-Lauren Price: Promoter keen on making ‘era-defining’ clash

Claressa Shields and Lauren Price, two Olympic gold medalists, could be headed for a clash, according to Shields' promoter.

Price defeated Stephanie Pineiro Aquino via 10-round unanimous decision on Saturday in the main event from Cardiff International Arena in Cardiff, Wales. Price, a 2020 Olympic gold medalist, faced off with Shields, a two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist, after the win.

Price, 10-0 (2 KOs), is currently a unified welterweight champion, coming in just under the 147lbs limit for her latest contest, as she made her third title defense.

Shields, on the other hand, has fought at women’s heavyweight (175lbs) since July 2024. Before that, she competed at middleweight and hasn’t fought at junior middleweight since 2021.

One thing they do have in common, however, is that between them, they won the first three women’s middleweight gold medals at the Olympics.

“The goal is to make the fight as soon as possible at a weight that works for both boxers,” Dmitriy Salita, the promoter of Shields, told BS. “It’s the kind of matchup that defines an era.”

Shields, 18-0 (3 KOs), has also become a notable ticket seller in Detroit. She most recently won a 10-round unanimous decision over Franchon Crews-Dezurn in February. Flint, Michigan’s Shields has also fought in Britain, defeating rival Savannah Marshall in 2022.

“[It is] one of the biggest fights in women’s boxing,” Salita said. “Two Olympic gold medalists in the same weight class, both at the top of the sport, representing dominant regions, the U.K. and U.S.A.”

If the bout were to happen, it would pit two eras of women’s boxing, even though Price, a 31-year-old from Newport, Wales, is older than Shields. Price started boxing after seeing the 2012 Olympics, the same Olympics in which the now 30-year-old Shields won gold. Shields is a five-division titleholder and a three-division undisputed champion, who is running out of suitable opponents to face.

“Claressa’s commitment to taking on the biggest challenges and continuing to grow the sport is unprecedented,” Salita said. “[It is] another legacy-building moment for the GWOAT (Shields).”

[smiling assassin]

I thought this was Ronnie Shields talking about David Price, that's how little women's boxing means to me.

I think it means very little to a lot of boxing fans. The round by round thread of the women’s card the other night tells us that. I’d love to see the viewing figures, bet they were terrible.

[tigermoth87]

Shields always comes across as the biggest bellend in boxing.

Someone should tell her nobody cares about women's boxing.

If she competed in the mens middleweight division she would be ranked 1993 on Boxrec

[gilgamesh]

The fact that the Women's Heavyweight Champion vs The Women's Welterweight Champion is being presented as an "Era defining clash" says it all about Women's Boxing.

There's like 5 girls that can fight in the entire sport, and a bunch of others who got really into pilates or something and figured out they can get paid pretty decent by having bad fights with other girls who can't fight.