International Women’s Day is Monday, March 8, but Claressa Shields plans on celebrating earlier.
“In my book, it’s March 5,” Shields tells DAZN News. “That’s the day that I’ll be making history not just for myself but for women in sports.”
That’s when the undefeated, undisputed middleweight champion and unified junior middleweight champ will face unbeaten IBF junior middleweight titleholder Marie-Eve Dicaire.
A win means Shields will become the first boxer ever — woman or man — in the four-belt era to become an undisputed world champion in two weight divisions. It all takes place Friday night at the Dort Federal Credit Union Events Center in Shields’ hometown of Flint, Michigan, live on pay-per-view.
But it’s bigger than Shields punching up her latest slice of boxing herstory. The trailblazing 25-year-old hopes this all-women’s event spawns many more women’s boxing pay-per-views for years to come.
“I’m just happy that God gave me this platform to change women’s boxing as a whole because this is a pay-per-view card also and we haven’t had one of those in 20 years,” Shields says.
The self-proclaimed “GWOAT” — Greatest Woman of All Time — is accurate, as Laila Ali vs. Jacqui Frazier-Lyde in 2001 marked the last time a women’s fight headlined a boxing pay-per-view.
Shields could have had the Dicaire fight on Showtime, telling DAZN News that the network would have paid her $350,000 for the bout, however the trailblazing 25-year-old thought it was now or never to test her value in the open market and to do it in hopes to spark change for higher paydays for women’s boxing in the near future.
The fact that Showtime postponed the Shields-Dicaire bout in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t reschedule it, also aided in Shields rolling the dice for women's boxing and abroad.
“Women’s boxing isn’t the only sport that doesn’t get paid equal to the men,” Shields says. “It’s really every sport. All the women get paid less than men. The more we help our sport, the more we’re helping each other as far as the whole.”
That’s why Shields believes stepping away from Showtime had to be done. The Shields-Dicaire pay-per-view is priced at $29.95, but the two-time Olympic gold medalist isn’t viewing the event’s final numbers as an all-encompassing final indicator. Instead, she’s trying to move the needle for women’s boxing and future bags its fighters are able to pocket, believing the statistics from this bout may help to do that.
“It’s not about the number of this pay-per-view that matters,” Shields affirms. “It’s about the significance of it. That it’s actually being done — that I decided ‘You know what? I’m going to give up a network giving me $350K for a fight and them telling me what I’m worth. I’m going to go out there and find out how much I’m worth. I’m going to go out there and find out how many fans I have.’
“That is what I’ll build off of,” she vows. “At the same time, I’m taking a huge risk, but it can only help women’s boxing to have those numbers. Who follows women’s boxing and who loves it enough to pay for pay-per-views? That’s what we have to find out.
“So, when I do have my next fight and say a network comes and wants to offer me money for a fight, they’ll have to match those numbers or give me more,’” she adds. “Or I could go back on pay-per-view and build on those numbers.”
This is all why Shields’ manager, Mark Taffet, a former HBO senior vice president who has overseen some of the biggest pay-per-views in boxing history, believes this pay-per-view is as significant as any.
“I’ve worked on 190 pay-per-view fights that generated over 58 million buys and in excess of $3.7 billion of revenue with some of the most well-known fighters in the history of the sport,” Taffet says. “But it’s possible that I’ve never worked on a pay-per-view as meaningful and important as Friday’s nights fight with Claressa Shields.
“This fight can change the trajectory of women’s boxing and it could help Claressa Shields, a true trailblazer and game changer, not only realize her dreams, but help her carry the sport of women’s boxing on her back and broad shoulders,” he continues, doubling down on the potential upswing of this fight just like his main charge. “So, I put 1,000 percent of my efforts in this because it could be a part of history and it could open doors for not only Claressa and her future, but all women.”
Shields and Taffet advocating for change in women’s boxing, especially their pay, is a microcosm of society’s gender wage gap in the United States and worldwide. According to Payscale.com, women made only $0.81 to every dollar a man made in the United States over 2020. In boxing, that disparity is way more lopsided and Shields believes her feats alone should merit an equal payday.
“Everybody always yells ‘equality’ and that ‘we’re not sexist’ and ‘we want equality,’” Shields states. “Well, if you want equality, (Vasiliy) Lomachenko is a three-division world champion, a two-time Olympic gold medalist like myself.
“I did it faster than him,” adds Shields, who became the quickest three-division world champ in boxing history last April. “Pay us the same. We have the same accomplishments, so pay me the same that you would pay him.”
Regardless of how Friday night’s card fares statistically, Shields is happy to shoulder the load for advocating for women’s boxing. And the GWOAT plans to put on a show with the sport on her back.
“They don’t call me the GWOAT for nothing because I’m the one who will take the risk and smile after,” she says, exuding confidence. “No matter what the numbers are, you’ll definitely see me smiling.”
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Claressa Shields came out dancing to Beyonce’s “Run the World (Girls)” before being crowned the quickest three-division world champion in boxing history last April.
The clip went viral and turned Twitter and Instagram, where Shields counts a combined 442,000-plus followers, upside down.
But a recent run-in with rap superstar Rick Ross helped Shields realize her booming star power even more. The impromptu meeting came last month when Shields was supporting a former sparring partner and spotted the MC.
“When I got out the ring, Rick Ross was standing up and I walked over to him and he said, ‘It’s a pleasure to see you here, GWOAT,’” Shields recalls. “And that’s when I knew. I was like ‘Wow, I wonder if he knows my real name or not.’
“But it doesn’t matter,” she continues, “because the GWOAT is what I go by anyway (laughs).”
The rapper gave Shields some words of encouragement as well.
“I told him I was fighting on pay-per-view March 5 and I said it’s not going to be a large crowd in person, but I’d love for you to watch,” Shields adds. “He said ‘It might not be a large crowd now, but I pray that those 200 people will turn into two million.’ I really appreciate that, just those kind words coming from him.”
Shields’ star power will likely shine even greater later this year, as she’s set to make her mixed martial arts debut in June with the Professional Fighters League.
“After this fight March 5, I’ll be celebrating my birthday March 17 and after that celebration, I’ll be getting on a plane to go to Albuquerque, New Mexico to continue my MMA training because I do have a fight scheduled in the middle of June — my first MMA fight,” Shields says with excitement. “And I plan to be very victorious because I don’t like losing.”
Now, just imagine if Shields becomes the first boxer to ever become an undisputed world champion in two different weight classes and goes on to reign as an MMA champ as well.
“I already have a point to prove that I can be great in boxing and become undisputed March 5,” Shields affirms, “and then I can flip my hand over and do MMA and kick ass over there.
“Literally kick ass with like my foot.”
Before she makes her MMA debut, Shields will look to do the same with her hands against Dicaire on Friday night, dedicating her performance to the late Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and actor Chadwick Boseman.
DAZN News will bring you the live updates, results and highlights from Shields' fight Friday night.