“I would never do that, no matter how much they’re paying me. And everything has to go through me.” “I was never, ever supposed to fight on an undercard of Jake Paul. I don’t care what the email says," Shields said. Shields told USA Today Sports+ she had no idea Taffet ever requested for her to fight on a Paul card. “Jake was still focused on building his own foothold into boxing.” “There wasn’t a business need that made sense and Jake had not started to focus on, ‘What can I do for boxing as a whole?’” Bidarian said. We would love to participate on your April 17 card if you have a slot available."īidarian, knowing Showtime had withdrawn from Shields over disappointing viewership, rebuffed the request. "Claressa had a historic win … to become the first man or woman in the four-belt era to win an undisputed world title in two weight divisions. We are now beginning a plan for our next few fights, and would love to discuss out plan with you to see if Triller is interested in being the video platform of the world's greatest female fighter.
In a March 15 email to Bidarian, Taffet, who is also the former head of HBO pay-per-view, wrote: Taffet said he and Bidarian continued “having regular dialogue, friendly conversations about working together" and that Bidarian liked the idea of having Shields in a crossover event, "believing her boxing credentials would add to the card.” “Claressa is obviously one of the best female boxers of all time, but the numbers (of viewers) she has didn’t make sense for us in terms of what Mark was hoping to achieve for her (in purse money), so I didn’t think it added to the Tyson-Jones pay-per-view, which ended up being the eighth largest in history,” said Bidarian, who also is the former UFC chief financial officer and assisted Triller’s Ryan Kavanaugh on the Tyson-Jones show. card in November 2020, when Paul viciously knocked out former NBA player Nate Robinson, never materialized. USA Today Sports+ reviewed a pair of emails sent last year to Paul's promoter by Shields’ manager, Mark Taffet, and her promoter, Dmitry Salita.Īn initial effort to place Shields on the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. “We didn’t want her on for many different reasons. Paul rebuts Shields' chiding as “envy” connected to an interest in being on his cards. He has an ongoing one with UFC President Dana White, with Paul vowing he'll retire from boxing and participate in one UFC fight if White would take measures to increase fighter pay and improve medical coverage.
Paul's social-media power came through him never shying away from a beef. She called his knockout in the rematch “lucky." Shields, a two-time Olympic and two-division undisputed champion, criticized Paul's immediate rise and questioned the credibility of his August victory by decision over Woodley. “It’s going to shatter this glass ceiling that’s been over us for quite some time now.”ĭissecting Paul’s emergence as an accidental champion of women’s boxing is an interesting tale, one that continues amid ongoing criticism aimed at him by another of the world’s top three female pound-for-pound fighters, Claressa Shields. “This is the turning point for females in this sport,” she said. Serrano sees the potential event as a watershed moment. “We are working diligently to get it done and everyone is in agreement that this is the best fight to make-not just for women’s boxing-but for boxing,” Bidarian said. Paul and Serrano’s promoter, Nakisa Bidarian of MVP Promotions, told USA Today Sports+ a Serrano-Taylor main event at Madison Square Garden is in “advanced negotiations.” In a relentless attack that left opponent Miriam Gutierrez’s face badly swollen, seven-division champion Serrano (42-1-1, 30 KOs) won a unanimous decision, effectively clinching a pound-for-pound spring showdown with Ireland’s undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor (20-0, six KOs).
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