It’s a term we’ve heard quite a lot lately: The Face of Boxing. As in, who IS The Face of Boxing right now? For some, Canelo Alvarez continues to hold the distinction, while others point to Gervonta Davis, this off the back of his massive PPV fight with Ryan Garcia. But there are, as the great Sugar Shane Mosley said recently in speaking with Fight Hype, “many faces of boxing.”
It’s whoever is having a big fight at the moment, Mosley said. So it seems the distinction is up for grabs right now. But Claressa Shields has no doubt SHE would be The Face of Boxing……if she was a man. Speaking with the media from her gym as she gets ready for her June 3 return fight with old rival Hanna Gabriels, Shields, unbeaten at 13-0(2) and a world champion at three weights, said she has “more accomplishments than everybody.”
Shields, who is coming off that big win over Savannah Marshall, says she enjoys proving her doubters wrong.
“There’s something about people doubting me that really turns me up,” Shields said. “[Savannah] Marshall had been bragging about winning an amateur fight [over me] for ten years. I enjoyed going over there and showing her and her people that she can’t do anything to me. If I was a man, I’d be the face of boxing. I’ve got more accomplishments than everybody. I’m just gonna keep continuing to build myself and let the word accept me and women’s boxing. This next fight is a big step for me.”
There is no doubt, people, more and more people all the time, have and are accepting women’s boxing. Fighters such as Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, Cecilia Braekhus, Shields and others have pretty much crossed over and are known to the average fan on the street. When it comes to who is The Women’s Face of Boxing, who deserves the distinction? Shields maybe does.
The June 3 return with the 21-2-1(12) Gabriels, that will see Shields defend her four middleweight belts, is of course a must-win fight for Shields, as all of her fights are as she continues on her quest for true greatness. As to what or who comes after this fight, assuming Shields does win, and she says she wants a KO this time, we can only wait and see.
Shields said not too long ago how she would the pound-for-pound number one in the sport if she was a man. Now she says she’d be The Face of Boxing if she was a man.
Agree or disagree?