Poking sharp jibes at rivals Alycia Baumgardner and Amanda Serrano, Claressa Shields looks forward to extending her unbeaten streak. While nothing has been finalized, a potential appearance in December or January has been suggested as her next move. Despite those positive developments, however, the multi-division champion’s recent event has come under scrutiny.
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It surrounds her recent fight against Kaye Scott. Marking her move down to the middleweight division all the way from heavyweight, Claressa Shields, who defended her undisputed heavyweight titles against Franchon Crews-Dezurn in February, faced the Australian for her WBA and WBC middleweight titles. While she won via knockout and deservedly received accolades for her outstanding run, the event at State Farm Arena has nonetheless come under criticism over purses, as the payout to fighters on the card promoted by Salita Promotions has drawn huge backlash on social media, with some prominent figures calling the figures embarrassing.
“Per GAEC (Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission), Disclosed Purses for all fighters on the #ShieldsScott event. Again, only what was disclosed to the commission,” read Jed I. Goodman’s X post.
With Claressa Shields receiving half a million dollars against Kaye Scott’s reported purse of $54,320, the rest of the details revealed a pattern where, barring the two headlining fighters, no one on the main card received a purse that crossed the $30,000 mark.
Beyond that ambiguity, the purse allotted to Orlando Brown and William Ray Norwood drew particular attention. The pair reportedly received a sum of $150 each for their three-round cruiserweight bout.
Per GAEC, Disclosed Purses for all fighters on the #ShieldsScott event Again, only what was disclosed to the commission: Claressa Shields: $500,000 Kaye Scott: $54,320 Joseph Hicks: $23,125 Troy Isley: $30,000 Bernice Ferreira: $20,000 Caroline Veyre: $20,300 Roamer Angulo: Show more
Before looking at how some fans and users reacted to the post, it is important to set some context.
While the main event was promoted by Dmitry Salita’s promotion and broadcast on DAZN, the event had a prelude that included a celebrity-influencer boxing event. Promoted by Zeus Network, the show featured a special undercard. One of those fights featured rappers Ray J, aka William Ray Norwood, and Orlando Brown.
Another fight had reality television star and social media influencer Big Lex and Chrisean Rock’s sister, singer Tesekhi, aka Latifa Malone.
Yet, it appeared that fans and some well-known figures were not aware of those finer details.
Beyond the fight, fans question Claressa Shields’ middleweight event
Taking up the purses for the influencer fighters, one user wrote bluntly, “Nah, $150 is criminal.” Another added, “Damn, sucks those four fighters making 150 each.”
From the tone of those comments, it appears the users were likely not aware of who William Ray Norwood or Orlando Brown are. Given the basic objective stated at the beginning of those matchups, which was to settle rivalries and for entertainment, it could be inferred that the payouts were not being viewed in the same way as those of professional fighters.
More specifically, in the rapper’s case, both Ray J and Brown share a rivalry that emerged two years ago. The issue surrounding who is more popular between the two became the bone of contention. Amid personal attacks, the bad blood between the two escalated to violence at the Atlanta presser for the event, when Brown reportedly slapped Ray J’s face with a stack of cash.
Given those circumstances, it’s likely they used the platform to settle their beef rather than pursue a professional boxing record.
In the meantime, some vented their frustration at Claressa Shields as well.
Taunting the two-time Olympic gold medalist, former UFC champion and legend Cris Cyborg wrote, “I offered @Claressashields $2,000,000. She took $500k to fight an older woman, with less pro wins and zero career KO’s instead. Goofiest Woman Of All Time.”
Her comments center around the challenge she threw at Shields. The two have been involved in a heated rivalry for a long time and have taken shots at each other frequently. However, the attempt proved futile after Shields rejected the offer, stating Cyborg “can’t even pay herself $2 million.”
Meanwhile, a few were deeply concerned by Kay Scott’s purse. One wrote, “World Champion making 54k lmfao. If this was UFC, the pitchforks would be out in full force.”
“Face of Women’s boxing, but yet her opponent only made 54000, and what happened to that 2 million a fight bullshit she was talking about? 😂😂😂,” another teased.
To set the record straight, Scott and the rest of the fighters entered the fight after going through the details on the contract and signing it.
Also, as one of the users highlighted, the figures mentioned in Goodman’s post are most likely commission-disclosed purses. So there’s a good chance the fighters’ actual earnings could be different.
Perhaps the outburst could be tied to Shields’ reported $8 million deal with Salita. Considering that and the kind of crowd she is drawing, some could be under the impression that competing in her card could be life-altering for the fighters, financially speaking.