Claressa Shields' message to Savannah Marshall: "You can't beat me in nothing. It doesn’t matter what we do. Basketball, we can run the 400m, I’m going to leave her in the dust. I don’t even know how to do a backflip but I’m going to do a better backflip than her"
Friday 23 February 2024 10:03, UK
Claressa Shields has a message for Savannah Marshall.
The two rivals fought in an excellent undisputed middleweight title fight in 2022, which Shields won by unanimous decision.
But Marshall believes the outcome could be different if they fought again, especially if it was in an MMA contest.
Shields hit back at that claim.
"If she wants to get torched she can come fight me in MMA," Shields told Sky Sports.
"She wants to come to MMA and try her luck, come on. I'm not stopping her. I just know that she is not a harder worker than me. That's why she couldn't beat me in boxing."
The American went on to say: "Savannah needs to understand - and the sooner she understands the better - you can't beat me in nothing. The sooner she understands that the better we'll all be. Just give it up. You can't beat me in nothing.
"You keep coming over here saying you're chasing me to MMA. I've been in MMA, you're not chasing me. I am right here for you and if I'm motivation for you to train, hey, train. But guess what - you will get beat up again," she continued.
"It doesn't matter what we do. Basketball, track, we can run the 400m, I'm going to [leave her] in the dust. I don't even know how to do a backflip but I'm going to do a better backflip than her."
Shields added: "We can fight boxing, I'm going to win. We can fight MMA, I'm going to win. We can streetfight, I'm going to win. It doesn't matter.
"We can play ping pong, I'm going to win. I'm just better than her at everything. She needs to understand that and I'm going to make sure whatever she wants to challenge me in, I'm better.
"That's how competitive I am. She can't beat me in nothing. She can't beat me in trash talk either, I trash-talked her under the table.
"Everything I said hit her to the heart. She kept thinking about me and dreaming about me. We got in that ring and then I beat her up."
Their rivalry though will continue. Shields will compete next in MMA. She will have another PFL bout on Saturday.
Marshall expects to make her PFL debut in the summer but will be cageside this weekend to scope out Shields for a potential fight.
"Tell her I said thank you for coming to watch me. I feel so honoured, so privileged that she's coming," Shields said in a comment laced with sarcasm.
"She's going to see what a real fighter fights like come February 24. She's going to see what she wants to be."
Shields maintained though that she does not need to fight Marshall again.
"I don't care about what Savannah Marshall thinks. I never did and I don't and I won't ever," the American declared.
"I think Savannah thinks about me way more than I ever think about her. I stopped thinking about her the moment they raised my hand and they said: 'The undisputed champion of the world.'
"Once they said I was the winner of that fight, I haven't thought about the girl. Great fight, I had a great victory.
"Of course she don't like me, duh. But I love you girl and I'm going to love beating you up again if you keep messing with me."
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