The conversation on the greatest women’s boxer of all time has many invoking the name of either Katie Taylor or Claressa Shields. A former decorated super middleweight champion in the male ranks of the sport has recently weighed in on this GWOAT topic, to use the parlance of Shields herself.
During a chat with escapistmagazine.com, Carl Froch covered several subjects, including his own thoughts on who boxing’s greatest female fighter of all time is. When weighing the accomplishments of both Taylor and Shields in his analysis, Froch said,
“Katie Taylor for me is probably one of the most outstanding female athletes, especially in boxing of all time. I mean, you’ve got a couple of other close names, but with Katie Taylor, she’s just phenomenal. And I think now it’s probably time to hang up the gloves, but you never know if there’s big money waiting for another fight. You need to enjoy life and settle down and give your body a rest at some stage. And I think if you’re not going to do that before your 40th birthday, when are you going to do it?”
Katie Taylor, Claressa Shields, and comparing their resumes
Katie Taylor collected several gold medals at the women’s world championships, European championships, European Union Championships, and at the 2012 Olympics before turning pro. Taylor has gone on to become an undisputed champion in multiple weight categories as she held all of the major hardware at both lightweight and super lightweight.
Taylor’s last outing saw her earn her third victory over Amanda Serrano as the two again went the distance with Taylor having her hand raised on July 11th in the headliner of this Netflix broadcast. Claressa Shields also won Olympic gold at the 2012 games and was able to secure another gold medal in 2016 before embarking on her run as a professional pugilist.
For Shields, her last foray into the boxing ring saw her become the undisputed heavyweight champion after besting Danielle Perkins. This accomplishment cemented Shields as the only fighter in the four belt era to become undisputed champion across three weight divisions with the next defense of her undisputed crown mapped out for July 26th against Lani Daniels.
