Claressa Shields is not convinced that Jessica McCaskill wants to fight her in the ring.
But if McCaskill, the undisputed 147 champion, is up for it, Shields says she’d be more than willing to drop to McCaskill’s weight.
Shields, a three-division champion from Flint, Michigan, currently faces Savannah Marshall for the undisputed middleweight championship on the provisional date of October 15, at London’s O2 Arena. Shields has been undisputed before at middleweight and junior middleweight,
“We know that she (McCaskill) is not going to go up to 154, because we know I was undisputed at 54, so I can go down to 54 whenever I feel like it,” Shields said on The DAZN Boxing Show. “So no, that’s the cap. That’s the cap. If she wants to fight me, we’re going to fight at 147 for all the belts, so she can go undisputed four times.
“Absolutely, absolutely, and they know it. And no, you’re not going to put a weight restriction on me. I’m going to make weight… and rehydrate like I do for every other fight. I have never been in the ring over 169 and I fought at 168. I am not as big as everyone thinks. I’m just tall.
Shields, however, doubts the Chicago-based McCaskill is serious about fighting her, given the interactions she’s had with McCaskill and her longtime trainer and manager, Rick Ramos. McCaskill captured all of the welterweight titles in August 2020 with a victory over Cecilia Braekhus; McCaskill defeated Braekhus again in her rematch the following year in March.
“That’s a cap, that’s a cap, that’s a cap, she’s a cap,” Shields said. “She and Rick Ramos are cap. I have seen them in person. Yes. They use my name to sell it because every time you mention Claressa Shields, everyone clicks on her. Nope.
“I saw them on a DAZN boxing show, they were both on the broadcast team. First of all, Jessica McCaskill didn’t even want to say hello, goodbye, looking the wrong way at me, nothing at all. Rick Ramos, I have a few words for you. [expletive]. So she had talked to him.
“He was, you know, ‘it’s just the internet and this and that,’ and I was like, ‘no, you were so disrespectful,’ and I want to say it to your face so you can be as disrespectful as you are. Internet, you don’t even say hello, how are you, Claressa? There’s nothing… I wanted to let her know, like, you and Jessica McCaskill, do you really want to smoke? And she even said, ‘ah, she’s too small. Yeah, I know. I know. So stop talking about fighting with me.”
