Claressa Shields was surprised when she found out how much money Natasha Jonas was offered to face her in their proposed 154-pound title unification fight.
Shields determined Jonas just didn’t want to fight her once Jonas turned down what would have been a career-high purse for the IBF/WBC/WBO champion. The undefeated Shields, who later agreed to a rematch with Hanna Gabriels on June 3, informed BoxingScene.com during a recent interview that she won’t revisit a fight versus Jonas because she doesn’t believe the British southpaw is genuinely interested in facing her.
“Natasha Jonas did not wanna fight me,” Shields said. “All these girls use me for clout. She used my name for clout. They offered her good money to fight against me. Natasha Jonas is not as known as Savannah Marshall, Katie Taylor. She’s not that big of a draw. And they offered her a lotta money. It was a lot. I was even shocked, and she turned
it down.”
Shields stated that Liverpool’s Jonas was offered $500,000 to fight the three-division champion who is commonly considered the number one fighter, pound-for-pound, in women’s boxing.
“It was ridiculous,” Shields said. “They offered her a lotta money. I believe it was half a million. I mean, for women in boxing and someone of her caliber, I was shocked. I was like, ‘Are y’all taking some money out of my purse to pay her? How are y’all giving her this money?’ But they wanted the fight that bad and that’s what they offered her. And I kinda just stayed ready on whatever the outcome was, but Natasha Jonas does not wanna fight me. She looked spooked after I beat Savannah Marshall. A lot of these girls are spooked because I am stronger than what they think.”
The 28-year-old Shields (13-0, 2 KOs) suspects that Jonas (13-2-1, 8 KOs) changed her mind about boxing the two-time Olympic gold medalist when she saw Shields’ 10-round, unanimous-decision victory over Marshall from a ringside seat October 15 at O2 Arena in London. Shields defeated England’s Marshall (12-1, 10 KOs), who is the only woman to beat her as a pro or amateur, on all three scorecards to fully unify the middleweight titles for a second time.
“All of these girls underestimate my power,” Shields said. “And I think with Natsha Jonas being ringside, she heard those shots. She seen Savannah Marshall’s reactions to those shots. She seen my punches in person. And all that [about] she wanted the fight, I think that left her head because I was gonna send her to retirement. I was gonna knock her ass out. She knows that. And I was gonna knock her out in the UK to show the UK fans, ‘Y’all thought I put a beating on Marshall. Oh, you just wait and see how I do Jonas.’ ”
Shields’ second fight against Costa Rica’s Gabriels (21-2-1, 12 KOs) will headline a card DAZN will stream from Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit. Gabriels dropped Shields during the first round of their fight in June 2018 at Masonic Temple in Detroit, but the Flint, Michigan native quickly recovered and beat Gabriels decisively on all three scorecards (98-91, 97-92, 97-92).
“I am focusing on Hanna Gabriels on June 3rd in Detroit, at Little Caesars,” Shields said. “Women’s boxing is huge here in America now, so I don’t need Natasha Jonas. I don’t need a fighter who doesn’t really wanna fight me, who wants to keep saying my name to build herself up. I don’t need her. There are plenty of girls for me to fight in the ’54 division and the ’60 division, even ’68. Natasha can fight whoever she needs to fight, but I’m not even revisiting the conversation with her because she don’t have no common sense.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.