Claressa Shields faces Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse for a heavyweight title this weekend, but has firm words for her contemporaries.
Claressa Shields may be competing for heavyweight hardware this weekend when she takes on Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse, but it’s clear that some of the top female fighters in the sport have caught her attention as she offered words for everyone during today’s final press conference. Here’s some of what she had to say when taking to the podium.
“Vanessa did not train hard enough for this fight,” Sheilds said. “I saw here hitting the pads yesterday, she was like trying to impress me. I was not impressed. Then she was sparring against girls that I done smoked already...you could’ve got some better sparring than that. I sparred against bears for this camp.
“I don’t get it but I’m happy that she’s here and, you know what, I hope she’s hitting like a heavyweight because she’s going to need to. She going to need to hit like a heavyweight come Saturday night because if she not punching like a heavyweight she going to sleep.
“I’m going to be the heavyweight world champion come July 27 and ain’t nobody going to stand in my way. Nobody...I’ll be a four-division, 15-time world champion come Saturday night and I can’t wait to see what Vanessa gonna do.
“I didn’t come here to be nice, everybody talking about ‘who’s the GWOAT.’ Who’s undefeated?! Who got the most belts?! Who make the million dollars the last couple times she fought without a promoter giving her a handout?! That’s who the GWOAT is. Who fights the best?! Who don’t struggle in fights no matter what style?! Exactly. So all that comparison about who the GWOAT is, I can go to any weight class and win. That’s who the GWOAT is.
“I’ll be winning Saturday night and any of those girls who want to be the GWOAT, all you got to do is make a fight with me: Alycia Baumgardner, Amanda Serrano, Katie Taylor. All you got to do is make a fight with me and then I can show you you’re not the GWOAT for many reasons.”
