Undisputed junior middleweight and IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight champion Claressa Shields has signed a multifight deal worth seven figures with European broadcast company Sky Sports and the BOXXER promotion company.
The deal for up to three fights will pay Shields an undisclosed seven-figure sum over the length of the contract. That includes her next fight, Dec. 11 against Ema Kozin, in Cardiff, Wales, where she'll defend her WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight titles.
The 26-year-old Shields (11-0, 2 KO) has spent 2021 split between boxing and fighting in MMA with the Professional Fighters League. Her last boxing match came in March, when she headlined an all-female pay-per-view card, defeating Marie-Eve Diciare to become the undisputed junior middleweight champion.
She also fought twice in mixed martial arts this year, defeating Brittney Elkin in her debut and then losing a split decision to Abigail Montes in October as part of the PFL card. It was her first defeat in professional fighting and her first loss since 2012, when she was beaten by Savannah Marshall at the 2012 AIBA women's world championships as an amateur.
The upcoming bout will be the first time Shields has fought outside the United States since winning the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She will face the 22-year-old Kozin (21-0-1, 11 KO), who last fought on May 22, when she beat Radana Knezevic in a second-round TKO.
Should Shields win, it could set up a megafight -- and a fight for the undisputed middleweight title -- with Marshall, who currently holds the WBO title. Marshall signed with BOXXER earlier this year. In Thursday's deal announcement, Shields' promoter, Dmitry Salita, and manager, Mark Taffet, both mentioned the potential for an eventual Shields-Marshall fight if Shields wins in December.
