Claressa Shields has turned her grudge back at Keith Thurman.
Thurman is set to take on Tim Tzysu on 30th March at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, for Tszyu’s WBO super welterweight championship. The bout will mark Tszyu’s second title defense after being promoted from interim to full champion, while Thurman earns a shot at a world title nearly five years after losing the WBA welterweight belt to Manny Pacquiao back in July 2019.
All that being said, Tszyu isn’t the only challenge that Thurman has received, as none other than Claressa Shields, aka the “GWOAT” of women’s boxing, has made another callout to the boxer.
Claressa Shields picks Tszyu to beat Thurman
Shields and Thurman had a verbal clash in August last year when the two division undisputed world champion boxer claimed that she would be able to beat Thurman if they were to square off. A green signal was given from the end of Thurman, although no talks had progressed.
In the meantime, as Thurman prepares to make a comeback after two years against Tszyu, Shields has once again reiterated her opinions about Thurman, stating that her skills and physique would work to her advantage, as well as dismissing Thurman, a former world champion, as a great boxer and picking Tszyu to defeat him.
“Thurman is not that great of a boxer. Is he strong? Yes. But what else? Tim Tszyu’s gonna knock Thurman’s ass out,” Shields said during a recent interview with Million Dollaz Worth Of Game on YouTube.
“I’m a woman, but I’m bigger than Thurman, I’m longer, I’ve got better skills. How’s he gonna take the punches I give him? Thurman can’t take a body shot. You’re talking to a boxing encyclopaedia,” she added.
The Tszyu fight this March will mark Thurman’s return to the ring after a winning comeback against Mario Barrios in February 2022- his first fight since the loss against Pacquiao. For her part, Shields defeated Maricela Cornejo via a 10-round unanimous decision verdict, retaining her undisputed middleweight belt in the process.
