Boxing world champion Claressa Shields isn’t mincing words when it comes to the endless comparisons between women’s and men’s sports.
Claressa Shields continues to redefine greatness as a two-time Olympic gold medalist and multi-division undisputed world champion.
Dropping down 38 pounds to middleweight, she dominated Kaye Scott at State Farm Arena on Saturday night, scoring a six-round TKO to capture the WBA and WBC titles. Shields remains undefeated at 19-0.
Outside of the boxing ring, Shields has relentlessly used her platform to champion equal pay, equal fight times, and equal opportunities for female athletes. She even launched T-Rex Promotions to elevate women fighters, called out TV network pay gaps, and continually pushes for female main-event stars.
And now she’s starting to voice her opinions on the gap between the WNBA and the NBA.
Claressa Shields claims that women are just as entertaining as men
Speaking after her win over Scott, Shields’ first thought was to praise just how far women’s sports has come, with the WNBA being her main focus.
She said: “I knew that once the WNBA started making money, and I made $1m, I knew that women’s sports was changing. All of us are packing arenas. All of us have great brands. We have great fans who want to support us. And I think that women’s sports have always been very entertaining. It’s just that people try to talk down on our sports by saying the NBA is better than the WNBA, and men’s boxing is better than women’s boxing.
“If you really look at it, you will look at the sport and see women’s sports is just as entertaining. We work just as hard. We love to play, we love sports. I don’t box because I want to be like a man, I box because I strictly love fighting. When you take out the stereotypes surrounding women’s sports, we just love to play. People are allowing us to play and allowing us to fight, and it’s very entertaining.”
Of course, it’s a topic that is very much up for debate and results in many different opinions, but we no one can deny the growth that the WNBA is currently experiencing.
We saw recently that the WNBA’s average value-to-revenue multiple is higher than the NFL and the NBA.
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