Who would win a fight between Olympic champion boxer Claressa Shields and UFC champion Ronda Rousey?
Shields no longer wants to answer, according to her Facebook account.
Shields, who captured Olympic middleweight gold in 2012 at age 17, won the U.S. Olympic trials Saturday to extend her boxing record to 66-1. She still must qualify for the Rio Games via international competition next year and fights at about 165 pounds.
Rousey, who won Olympic judo bronze in 2008 at age 21, is 12-0 since becoming a professional mixed martial arts fighter in 2011 and next fights Nov. 15. She fights at about 135 pounds.
“I’m not ever doing mixed martial arts,” Shields said in July, according to ESPN.com. “I don’t understand the sport. Ronda is great at what she does, but, for one thing, I don’t know how to wrestle. I’m a straight boxer. I know the sweet science. I don’t know how to fight off the ground or be on the ground.
“But in the middle of my professional career [after Shields plans to turn pro following the 2016 Olympics], if Ronda wants to transfer over to boxing, I’ll box her and we can make a deal. First, she boxes me, then I go into the MMA ring … I know for a fact I would beat her in boxing. That’s simple. But MMA? Uh, no. I’d give [the win] to her, but I would give her a fight.”
Shields is so intimidating that her 2014 World Championships first-round opponent’s trainer threw in the towel to end the fight at the 11-second mark. She was named Outstanding Boxer of the Tournament across all divisions.
A challenge for Shields, who has sparred with a boyfriend, has been finding women willing to compete against her.
Rousey, too, is running out of opponents. Her last three bouts ended in 16 seconds, 14 seconds and 34 seconds.
