Claressa Shields has competed in MMA as well as being a boxing star and one of three in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO, in two weight classes. Having competed in the cage and in the ring, she is more qualified than most to comment on Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou and the “GWOAT” has given her thoughts to Sky Sports on the main event of “Knockout Chaos.”
Claressa Shields Speaks on Joshua vs. Ngannou
GWOAT Predicts Joshua vs. Ngannou
Shields is better qualified than most to offer a thought on Joshua vs. Ngannou due to her experience in boxing and MMA. During her interview with Sky Sports, she warns that Ngannou must be taken seriously, and she believes the decision will be close.
Ngannou performed much better than many anticipated in his first professional boxing contest, which ensured Fury barely got by his opponent. “I think it’s going to be a good fight. At first I kind of felt that AJ was going to knock out Ngannou, that’s how I saw the fight. Now it’s kind of shifted on, I feel like it’ll be a split decision going either guy’s way,” Shields told Sky Sports.
Shields expands on her initial thought: “I say that because it feels like AJ has a lot to prove and I feel like when he’s got a lot to prove sometimes he puts too much pressure on himself and he doesn’t fight his fight. And if he doesn’t fight his fight against Francis, Francis is a big, strong and powerful guy too so it can be a closer fight.
“I say that [Joshua-Ngannou will be close] because of how competitive he was against Tyson Fury. Tyson Fury didn’t take the fight seriously. I think that us boxers have this mental thing where we feel like MMA fighters don’t have good boxing,” she said.
Knockout Chaos Undercard
- Zhilei Zhang vs. Joseph Parker
- Rey Vargas vs. Nick Ball
- Mark Chamberlain vs. Gavin Gwynne
- Justis Huni vs. TBA
- Jack McGann vs. TBA
- Ziyad Almaayouf vs. TBA
- Roman Fury vs. TBA
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