The undefeated female boxing champion Claressa ‘GWOAT’ Shields has brooked attention surrounding a five-year-old sparring video. It captured Shields being knocked down by male boxer Arturs Ahmetovs. Shields attributes the incident to Ahmetovs allegedly wearing gloves with minimal or no padding. She alleged that it was a retaliation for her victory over him in a previous sparring session.

Despite this setback, Shields is renowned for her rigorous training with her male counterparts. She continues to defy conventions and push boundaries in the boxing world. Due to this habit of Shields, she’s been called ‘manly’ by some of the boxing fans and critics. To all of them, Shields has sent a stern message, with a tinge of sarcasm.

Claressa Shields claps back at her critics

Claressa Shields has always portrayed a strong, and fierce image of herself for the public at large. In her appearance on ‘The Colbert Report’, she stated, “I love hittin’ people.” when asked about her reason for choosing boxing as her profession. For many years, she didn’t get any endorsements and many believed it was because of her statement.

Then at 21 years of age, Shields was asked about one thing that she wanted the country to know. At that time, she stated that there was no definition of a woman. “It’s OK to be a boxer. It’s OK to be Serena Williams. It’s OK to be athletic. You are still a woman,” Shields said. But as it turns out, the criticism still looms when she’s 28. On her X, she wrote, “Mhmmm I’m just so manly. I wish I was a man ! A man face, body & [a**] could never look this good !”

Furthermore, she continued, “Im a great fighter & people been mad a long time about it, stay mad still Winning, still Rich.” So, through sarcasm, she sent out a message that she loves being a woman and embraces her identity wholeheartedly. Safe to say, Shields is quite an audacious woman.  So much so, that she even challenged male boxers for a fight.

Shields once called out Keith Thurman and Rolly Romero

A few months ago, Claressa Shields and Keith Thurman went toe-to-toe against each other on the internet. After a vigorous back-and-forth, Shields announced that she was in a training camp for the first-ever cross-gender boxing match in the history of the sport. She even stated that she’d be preparing with Shakur Stevenson to get ready for a fight  against Thurman.

Since then, there hasn’t been much update about this potential showdown. However,  recently, she went after another male boxer, Rolly Romero. Mainly because he texted the two-time undisputed champion something that didn’t sit well with her. She said on an Instagram Live, “Rolly while your punk a** came to my inbox, I will square up with you and whoop your a**! I will come to TMT and literally put my hands on you. I wanna embarrass you Rolly.”

Read More: “She Is Full of S**t”: Trainer Derik Santos Denies Claressa Shields’ ‘No Padding’ Accusations and Explains What Actually Happened

Well, no female boxer has ever been in a feud with a male boxer and called them out in a boxing fight. So, this gives the critics a chance to brand her behavior as ‘manly’, however, Shields believes all of this doesn’t make her any less of a woman. What are your thoughts about Claressa Shields? Let us know in the comments section.

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