OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST CLARESSA SHIELDS SIGNS WITH PFL
Professional Fighters League has signed boxing champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields to compete in the lightweight division. MMAjunkie.com was first to report the news.
Claressa Shields, ranked the No. 2 pound-for-pound boxer in the world by The Ring magazine and ESPN.
The move will suspend a 10-0 professional boxing career in which Shields held major titles at middleweight, light middleweight and super middleweight, and after a legendary amateur career in which she held a 77-1 career with Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016.
Shields will not participate in the PFL 2021 season format; instead she will take one-off fights at various events throughout the year. The arrangement is similar to how Olympic judo gold medalist Kayla Harrison began her PFL tenure in 2018 before winning the organization’s 155-pound championship in 2019.
Shields is one of only seven boxers to ever hold WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles at the same time, male or female, per MMA Junkie. She had previously hinted at interest in a career in MMA, saying she wants to fight UFC dual-champion Amanda Nunes.
The PFL will begin its 2021 season in April. The organization canceled the 2020 campaign due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here is a Instagram video of Claressa Shields doing MMA training
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