Not Wanting To Be Underpaid, World Champion Claressa Shields Calls For 12 Rounds Of Women's Boxing

Women's boxer Claressa Shields (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Middle-class boxing world champion Claressa Shields has called for world-class women's boxing fights to be held in the same number of rounds as men. The reason is that the current rules lead to the assumption that female boxers must be paid less than men.

So far, world-class boxing fights are held for 10 rounds, each of which lasts two minutes, while the men last 12 rounds, each of which is three minutes.

Shields, who on March 5 will try to become a boxer holding four world championship belts from two different classes, said it was time to rethink the number of rounds for the woman.

"I think the biggest thing about women's boxing is that people say women shouldn't be paid the same, because they haven't been fighting for the same length of time", Shields told Reuters TV, quoted by Antara.

"However, I hope that more and more people will realize that we do not apply the same rules as the boys. Therefore, the men must change the rules so that every boxing world champion can fight three minutes, 12 rounds", she said.

The current rules, said Shields, make women's boxing fights less knocked out, because girls don't have much time to win KOs.

Shields won the WBC super-middleweight in its fourth bout, before uniting the WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO lightweight titles.

If you beat Canadian IBF and WBA lightweight world champion Marie Eve Dicaire at Dort Federal Event Center in Flint, Michigan, the 25-year-old female boxer will combine five versions of the title.

Shields also doesn't want female boxers to wear face shields.

The WBC said that based on scientific research, female boxers have a greater chance of getting a concussion than males, so their fighting time is not as long as theirs.

"Science, not sexism, demands that we implement this decision. Girls have been shown to experience increased vulnerability and prolonged symptoms compared to boys", said the WBC.

"Unfortunately most female athletes, in all sports, earn less than men. We are trying to overcome this by creating campaigns and joining organizations in many arenas, not just boxing", said the WBC.