Baumgardner Rules Out Shields Fight

Alycia Baumgardner (16-1-0, 7 KOs) has stated that a fight against Claressa Shields (17-0, 3 KOs) is not on ‘her radar.’

Baumgardner, the undisputed junior lightweight champion, felt the size difference and her own career goals made it unrealistic. Shields is currently boxing at heavyweight, having defended her Undisputed Heavyweight Title in her last fight with a win over Lani Daniels in July. While Shields has shown she can box at numerous weight classess, having been undisputed at 154, 160 and heavyweight, finding a catchweight would be tough. Baumgardner has previously indicated a willingness to fight Shields at a catchweight of 147 pounds, but she has now changed her stance. 

Reaction

“Listen, now you know that girl is a heavyweight and I’m at super feather so that doesn’t even seem realistic to even have an exhibition when she’s a heavyweight fighter, if we’re being honest…it got to make sense on my end too because I’m still active, I’m still undisputed, I still have mandatories to do

“(Tank) can do what he want to do (by fighting Jake Paul) but this might be his last fight, who knows, and he going to go out with a bang, and that could potentially be the situation but I’m building something in my career where I plan to move up to ‘35 and become a world champion there. So the whole exhibition thing, that’s not even on my radar,” Baumgardner said

Despite their public comments, a fight between Baumgardner and Shields is far from an impossibility, primarily due to the “superfight” status it would hold. For example, the Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano bout at a sold-out Madison Square Garden demonstrated the public’s appetite for high-stakes women’s boxing. A Baumgardner vs. Shields fight would generate similar, if not greater, interest, especially given their public animosity. Similarly, for Shields, fighting a smaller, yet highly-skilled, undisputed champion could add another layer of prestige to her already impressive legacy.