Claressa Shields explains how Cris Cyborg "betrayed" their friendship after Saudi Arabia boxing offer
Claressa Shields and Cris Cyborg, once training partners turned potential rivals, appear to have fallen out after failing to negotiate a lucrative boxing matchup in Saudi Arabia.
Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, claims she reached out to Cyborg about a 154-pound bout. However, Cyborg allegedly countered with a request to fight at a much lower weight class (147 or 145 pounds), which Shields felt would be a disadvantage to her.
Social media barbs were then exchanged, and now Shields is accusing Cyborg of prioritizing online clout over their friendship.
Speaking to MMA Mania in a recent interview, Shields said:
“They were considering it to be like a Tyson Fury vs. [Francis] Ngannou [match], right? I called her up... I let her know the money’s on the table. I gave her the weight class, 154. That’s the lowest that I’ve fought at in boxing and then I thought me and Cris were good and I gave her the guy’s number, her and her team talked to the guy, and then all of the sudden the guy’s calling like, ‘Cris doesn’t want to fight. She said she wants to fight you at 147 or at 145.'"
She added:
"I don’t really have patience for anybody disrespecting me.... When I saw her in person, she wanted to be friendly and I was like, ‘Don’t try to be friendly to me when you were just talking all this crap online. Keep that same energy.' I ain’t fake and I’m not gonna be acting like something didn’t happen when it happened. She betrayed our friendship for the internet and for clout. We don’t gotta be cool, we don’t gotta kick it, but if she wants to fight, we can.”
Check out Claressa Shields' comments below:
Claressa Shields set to fight Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse for women's WBC heavyweight glory
Claressa Shields is taking her talents to a whole new weight class. In a bold move, the reigning undisputed light middleweight champion will challenge Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse for the WBC heavyweight championship on July 27 in Detroit.
Confirming the news, ESPN Ringside posted:
"Claressa Shields announced Tuesday she is moving up two weight classes to challenge women's WBC heavyweight champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse on July 27 in Detroit."
Check out the tweet from ESPN below: