Claressa Shields believes Savannah Marshall's move into mixed martial arts is good for women's sport and wishes her rival well, despite the "love-hate" relationship between the duo.
Unified middleweight champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist Shields, one of the biggest names in women's boxing, made her MMA debut in 2021 after signing with the Professional Fighters League (PFL), where she has a 1-1 record.
British boxer Marshall, Shields' long-term rival who beat the American as an amateur in 2012 before losing by unanimous decision when they met last year, signed with the PFL last week.
Marshall then declared her intention to face Shields in her new discipline, saying: "It doesn't look like a rematch in the ring is coming off, so I've had to chase her into another sport."
There has been no love lost between the fighters in the past, with Shields calling Marshall "delusional" and "disrespectful" after the Brit called for a rematch earlier this year.
While Shields initially had misgivings over Marshall's MMA switch, she believes the move will benefit the sport and even claims to have offered her rival tips to aid her transition.
"Any time I fight Savannah Marshall is a good time for me," Shields told Stats Perform. "Whether it's in boxing for the rematch or in MMA. I mean, if she wanted to go the track and race, I am down for it!
"The satisfaction of beating her makes me very happy. I have a love-hate relationship with Savannah. I love that she's a competitor. I love that we had our experiences together.
"She keeps mentioning the amateur loss, but it was, what, 11 years ago? Other than that, I think it was very clever and very inspiring for her to come and sign with the PFL.
"When I heard about it, [I thought], 'man, she is just obsessed with me'. But [then] I asked her, 'why are you here?'
"She was like, 'I want to fight you in a cage, and I want to be bigger in boxing too. I want to build my brand'.
"Hearing her say those things… It's like, now you're on the same mental that I'm on, because I've been doing this and I've been saying this.
"We both agree that women's boxing is big but it's not as big as women's MMA and we get paid more in MMA, [with] equal TV time, equal fight time, equal promotion.
"There's just way more eyes on us and we can get the bang for our buck. So, the fact that she came over here, I thought it was a good move.
"We can still do our fight in boxing for the rematch, and we can still fight in the cage. When we're done, they're going to writing like documentaries and stuff about our beef!
"But I don't have beef with her right now. I will save that for when she's my opponent again. Right now, I just wish her well. I even gave her some tips. Boxing and MMA, they are like apples and oranges. I just gave her a few tips on what I think she should do."
Asked about the development of women's sport in recent years, Shields hailed the progress already made but called for more female representation across sport's governing bodies.
"Well women's sports right now are being viewed more than ever in today's time," She added. "I think we need the CEOs, the CFOs, the people in charge to just be equal and whatever you want to do, do it for the women. It's not that hard.
"But people saying, 'the women need to do this or do that'… We're already doing everything that we're doing. It is the same as the men.
"It's really about the people in charge making those financial decisions with their budgets and just being fair. We are working our way up there.
"I'm a fan of the Olympics because I went and I just liked to see how women are represented on track and field, represented in boxing, represented in MMA, represented in soccer.
"We are putting in our time, and Coco Gauff just won the [Cincinnati Open] trophy in tennis. Women's sports right now are really on an up and up and it's going to get better."
Pennel rages against the Opta machine
Kansas City Chiefs tackle Mike Pennel is out to prove the Opta supercomputer wrong after it estimated the team's chances of a Super Bowl three-peat at just 11.6%.
The Chiefs are looking to make history in the 2024 campaign, which they open on Thursday with a mouthwatering tussle with the Baltimore Ravens, who they beat in last season's AFC Championship game.
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and company are out to make the Chiefs the first franchise in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls.
Eight teams have previously won back-to-back Super Bowls, only to fail to make the showpiece game in the subsequent season, most recently the New England Patriots in 2004 and 2005.
Ahead of the new campaign, the Opta supercomputer's predictive model, which takes into account a team's quarterback and EVE (efficiency vs expected) performance, rated Kansas City's chances of winning Super Bowl LIX at 11.6%.
They are more favoured than AFC rivals Baltimore (10.8%), but the San Francisco 49ers – who the Chiefs beat at Super Bowl LVIII and Super Bowl LIV – are favourites with a 23.9% likelihood of winning it all.
Pennel is desperate to prove the model wrong, telling Stats Perform: "Give me the opportunity to fight against the machines! I don't think we were favoured in any playoff game this year. You know what I mean?
"I'm pretty sure they're doing it off numbers, but we played them twice in the Super Bowl. We beat them twice. I guess we'll just have to get to it.
"I think we may see them again. But the NFC, they've got some tough teams out there right now. They got some teams that are ascending, Green Bay was looking good and are another dark horse.
"We'll see what Dallas is doing, how their contract situation works out. The Eagles look very, very, very solid. So we'll see how it shakes out. Remember, you've got to remain healthy to make it to the game. That's out of both teams' hands.
"We'll see what happens, but 23% to 11%? I can't agree with that. I would flip-flop that, but maybe it's calculating in the three-peat. Maybe that's what it is."
The Chiefs have made six consecutive AFC Championship games since Mahomes became their starting quarterback in 2018, winning four of those and going on to claim three Super Bowl rings.
Asked where their main competition might come from in the AFC, Pennel highlighted the Houston Texans – in their second year with C.J. Stroud leading the offense – as a major threat.
"I love the direction that Houston is going in. They're going to be formidable in the AFC. Cleveland with a healthy Deshaun Watson, we're interested to see how that looks," he said.
"Even in our division, you know, the Chargers with Jim Harbaugh, they've got a franchise quarterback in Justin Herbert. We know he'll be running the ball, but we'll see how that shakes out.
"The AFC is just getting better, man. There'll be a couple dark horses in there, but those are the two or three that I really think are going to take a leap and be competitive."
Pennel expects Rodgers 'back with a vengeance', cannot split Jets QB from Mahomes
Mike Pennel expects Aaron Rodgers to be "back with a vengeance" this season but struggles to split the 40-year-old from Patrick Mahomes, having played with both quarterbacks.
Rodgers joined the New York Jets from the Green Bay Packers in a blockbuster trade last year, only to rupture his Achilles in Week 1 and miss the remainder of the 2023 season.
With Rodgers now fully fit, the Jets are expected to be a major force in the AFC when the 2024 campaign gets under way this week, as they look to halt a miserable run of eight losing seasons in a row.
Kansas City Chiefs tackle Pennel spent three years alongside Rodgers in Green Bay, playing 37 games through the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Asked if he feels Rodgers has something to prove this year, he told Stats Perform: "Absolutely. I think that's why Aaron still does it. He's a highly competitive person as well.
"He wanted to succeed and with how the Jets were set up last year, it was very, very, very unfortunate how the season began and turned out because they were going to be a formidable team in the AFC.
"I know he's going to come back with a vengeance and he's prepared himself to do so. He has a lot in the tank.
"He learned from [former Packers and Jets quarterback] Brett Favre. So we've at least got about five more years of Rodgers, right?"
Pennel has plenty of experience of playing with generational QB talents, having also teamed up with three-time Super Bowl winner Mahomes through two separate spells in Kansas City, the first spanning the 2019 and 2020 seasons before he returned to the team last October.
Rodgers has thrown for 59,055 yards and 475 touchdowns in 231 games through his 19 years in the NFL.
Mahomes, meanwhile, has already accumulated 28,424 yards and 219 touchdown passes through seven years with the Chiefs, and just six as their starter.
Mahomes' 2023 figures of 4,183 passing yards and 27 touchdown throws were his second-worst since becoming the Chiefs' starter in 2018, after the 2019 campaign (4,031 yards, 26 touchdown throws), yet he still came up trumps when it mattered to lead the team to Super Bowl LVIII glory.
Pennel believes Mahomes' mobility sets him out from all other quarterbacks, but he struggles to split him from Rodgers, who he sees as having a huge influence on others to play the position.
"I think Aaron Rogers, he has crazy arm talent, you know, he was the innovator of the no-look pass and coming out of the gap on scramble and things like that," he said.
"Pat's just a killer, man. I'm telling you about his mobility, but gosh, I mean, I feel like he's like the Ricky Bobby of the NFL!
"He's got the first or his last, you know what I mean? He has a different switch."
US Open: Gauff endures serving woes in Flushing Meadows exit
Defenidng US Open champion Coco Gauff was dumped out of the competition on Sunday, blaming a lack of execution in her defeat to fellow American Emma Navarro.
Gauff, who was also comfortably beaten by Navarro at Wimbledon two months ago, fell to a 3-6 6-4 3-6 loss after serving 19 double faults at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
A bright start from Navarro saw earn a first break in the opening game after two double faults by Gauff in a sign of things to come for the world number three.
Despite a comeback in the second set, Gauff's remaining service games were punctuated by more errors in the third, serving 11 of her total double faults in the final set to hand Navarro the victory.
"I fought really hard today. I just didn't take care of my serve, so that was the biggest difference," Gauff said.
"Mentally and emotionally I gave it my all. Of course, there were things execution-wise, where I wish I could serve better.
"I think if I would did that, it would have been a different story for me in the match."
Navarro will go on to play 26th seed Paula Badosa in the last eight after the Spaniard thrashed China’s Wang Yafan 6-1 6-2 earlier on Sunday.
Data Debrief: Doubles troubles for Gauff
With 19 double faults, Gauff served the equal-most double faults for her career in a single WTA main draw match, serving as many against Martina Trevisan at Roland Garros in 2020.
Navarro is the first American player to defeat the women’s singles defending champion at the US Open since Serena Williams in 2002 against Venus Williams in the final.
She is also now the player with the most hard court WTA quarter-finals in 2024 (seven, surpassing Elena Rybakina).
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
