4.8 • 6.9K Ratings
🗓️ 19 November 2025
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
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Shannon Sharpe sits down with Claressa Shields, the world’s best active female boxer and the most decorated woman in the history of the sport. She kicks off the episode in the ring, giving Shannon a hands-on lesson in how to throw jabs, crosses, hooks, uppercuts, and full combinations while breaking down championship footwork, defensive strategy, counters, and the mindset required to deliver a knockout.
From there, Claressa takes Shannon through her extraordinary rise. She opens up about surviving a childhood marked by a mother battling addiction, a father in prison, years of sexual abuse, and the devastating loss of her grandmother. Those experiences pushed her into the role of protector for her siblings and eventually taught her to stand up to bullies at school. Boxing became more than a sport—it was her escape, her sense of purpose, and ultimately the force that saved her life after two suicide attempts.
Shields reflects on her first and only amateur loss, which came when her coach couldn’t travel with her, and emphasizes how vital strong leadership is in a fighter’s corner. She also shares the moment she became the youngest American boxer ever to win Olympic gold. Claressa talks about the time she had to spar an internet troll, and she revisits how she negotiated equal Olympic pay for women before graduating high school as the first in her family to do so.
Her conversation with Shannon expands into her views on trans athletes in women’s sports; her encounters with NBA legends like Kevin Durant and LeBron James during the Olympics; and the challenges of colorism and online criticism aimed at her and Serena Williams. She speaks candidly about pressures to change her appearance, lessons she’s learned about money, and the moment she became the first woman to earn $1 million in a boxing match.
Shields then breaks down her transition into MMA, including training with Jon Jones, how the sport differs from boxing, and whether she’d ever consider jumping into WWE. She offers unfiltered takes on Canelo Alvarez, Jake Paul vs. Gervonta Davis, Floyd Mayweather vs. Mike Tyson, Terence “Bud” Crawford’s legacy, and her complicated rivalry with Laila Ali—complete with the $15 million offer still on the table.
As it concludes, Claressa opens up about her plans for motherhood and her friendships with Kash Doll and singing with Summer Walker. She dives into the music she listens to before fights, her mental process walking into the ring, the dirtiest tactics she’s experienced, the injuries she’s fought through, her weight-cut routines, and where negotiations stand for her next fight—including conversations with Netflix.
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| 0:00.0 | Thank you for coming back. |
| 0:01.9 | Part two is underway. |
| 0:04.2 | Have you ever been pressured to have cosmetic surgery? |
| 0:07.9 | Um, this past year with all the judging and all the people trying to say that I'm fat |
| 0:15.9 | or trying to body shame me or whatever because in camp I got a six-pack and I really you know cut up and stuff |
| 0:22.6 | but then out of camp I don't mind having a little stomach or whatever I don't mind I don't mind |
| 0:27.2 | that but when I see and people judge me and saying that I should get stuff done I'm people |
| 0:33.8 | actually get my nose done with I think my face is I think my face is perfect. But these are just haters. |
| 0:39.0 | You got to understand people saying this stuff. |
| 0:41.4 | But with me, I would love to, I heard that when you go and get these body surgeries done, |
| 0:48.4 | that sometime you go on there, they fix your body up and get the fat off, |
| 0:52.8 | and then you come back and you're 30 pounds smaller. |
| 0:55.6 | But you got to let your body heal for months or whatever the case may be. |
| 0:58.5 | Yeah. |
| 0:59.0 | And you, me hearing that, be like, hmm, I ain't got to work out to lose 30 pounds, I can go down a few more weight classes and win some more titles. |
| 1:08.0 | But in my mind is like, I'd rather work it off, you know, and do that instead of being cut on and whatever the case, because I'm really scared of knives and needles. I don't know how I got tattoos, but I'm really scared of that. So that's the pressure there when they come judging you about your size, but I'm happy with my side. That's why it doesn't bother me. It don't bother me. |
| 1:28.3 | But these girls be looking cut up. |
| 1:29.3 | They're going to get their abs done now. Yeah. I mean, girls don't even work out. Be having better abs than me. And I'd be like, Godly, what's going on? But then you know, you got these filters and everything else and body shaping, whatever. I've always been just a person just to give it to you how it is. |
| 1:45.1 | Right. |
| 1:46.1 | You know what I'm saying? |
| 1:47.1 | So I'm going to continue to be like that. I just know that for my next fight, I'm going to cut up. I'm going to come more. So what weight? I believe 175. 175. Mm-hmm. So you're going to, I mean, or you only 1 85, that's 10 pounds. Or 168 because they got some girls who got belts down there. You want to get you? So you don't want nobody to have no belts? No, they can have some just, if they call me out, I'm like the boogie woman, I show up. Some girls been calling me out, but I already called them out before, but they didn't want to fight. |
| 2:17.5 | But now, I guess they want to fight now. |
... |
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