Devin Haney Roped Into ESPYs Controversy as Claressa Shields Makes Startling Revelation In Response to Paige Bueckers’ Resurfaced Speech

Claressa Shields is now speaking out about the unfair treatment she has received at the hands of the media during the coverage of last year’s Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly (ESPY) Awards. In a fresh social media post, the 29-year-old female boxer roped in male boxers like Devin Haney, Gervonta Davis, and Shakur Stevenson to make her point.

In July 2023, the two-time undisputed middleweight champion was crowned the best boxer of the year by the ESPYs, where she was nominated along with Haney, ‘Tank’, and Stevenson. She made history by collecting the award, as the first female boxer to grab the recognition in 19 years of the award’s run. She had expressed her happiness to have won the prestige that was once given to Canelo Alvarez and Tyson Fury. Now, months later, she has called out the media for not treating her with the same respect as they did for her male colleagues.

On X, ‘GWOAT’ uploaded an image of her posing with the award she won. Along with it, she wrote, “100% agree! I was the first woman boxer to win BEST BOXER CATEGORY & they did not show me on the TV & my entire family, friends & fan were waiting to see if I won!@ESPYS! I was in the category with all men! @Gervontaa @ShakurStevenson & @Realdevinhaney!”

Claressa Shields was responding to a fan account on X that shared an old video of Paige Bueckers, the basketball player who, when she won an award from the ESPY, had called out the media for their limited coverage of black women winning the same recognition as her.

Paige Bueckers stands up for black women in sports during her 2021 speech

In 2021, the then-20-year-old Paige Bueckers won an ESPY award for Best Female College Athlete. That year she made history by becoming the first freshman to win all four major national women’s college Player of the Year awards. While she was widely appreciated for her achievement, her speech at the ESPYs was jotted down in history. After all, she did lend a voice to the movement that would later become an important part of the greater appeal for equal treatment in sports.

In her speech, she underscored the lack of coverage given to black women in the sports fraternity. She spoke at length about how the media had not given the same coverage to her African-American colleagues as they did for her. The guard for the UConn Huskies went on to use her platform to celebrate black women in sports, including notable figures like Maria Taylor and Robin Roberts, athletes like Maya Moore, and others who inspired her and deserved better coverage than what the media gave them.

Bueckers also paid homage to Breonna Taylor, who became the tipping point during the Black Lives Matter protest. In the speech, she said, “With the light that I have now as a white woman who leads a black-led sport and celebrated here, I want to shed a light on black women.”

She went on to add, “Sports media holds the key to storylines. Sports media and sponsors tell us who is valuable, and you have told the world that I mattered today, and everyone who voted, thank you. But I think we should use this power together to also celebrate Black women.”

Paige Bueckers’ speech continues to remind people of the bias black women athletes have to face time and again. What do you have to say about the powerful speech? Let us know in the comments section below.