Claressa Shields believes that her MMA experience is improving her as a boxer.
Shields is the undisputed middleweight champion in the boxing ring, and has one win and one defeat in her nascent MMA career.
She fights in the PFL this Saturday (check your region for the PFL vs. Bellator event live on DAZN.com), and she told Sky Sports that MMA fighters can draw on and improve their boxing skills in the discipline.
“I say that [Joshua-Ngannou will be close] because of how competitive he was against Tyson Fury. Tyson Fury didn’t take the fight seriously. I think that us boxers have this mental thing where we feel like MMA fighters don’t have good boxing,” she said.
“But Francis is one of those fighters who does mostly stand up when he fights. So he has a pretty good boxing background, pretty good stand up.
“But us as boxers don’t really take that seriously coming from an MMA fighter.
“I feel like if Tyson had done his homework he would have seen, okay, this guy can definitely be a challenge.”
