Claressa Shields is eyeing fights Stateside and in the UK with Lauren Price as the Olympic champions prepare to lock horns for the first time later this year.
Price remains unified welterweight champion after battling to victory over a game Stephanie Pineiro in Cardiff on Saturday night, in a bout that left her bloodied.
The unbeaten Welshwoman faced off with five-weight world champion Shields – who has been undisputed in the heavyweight division since February 2025 – in the ring afterwards, with a clash at middleweight before the end of 2026 now looking likely.
Shields and Price (right) shared the ring after the Welsh fighter’s win over Stephanie Pineiro
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Shields, 18-0 as a pro, said of fighting Price: “I look forward to fighting her and she doesn’t mind coming up to 160lbs.
“She even wants to come to America. We may do a fight there and then do a fight in the UK. If the first fight is good enough.
“When I beat a girl they don’t want to rematch me but I believe with her pedigree she can give a better fight.
“She will be one of the best-skilled girls I have fought, so we will see. I felt the confidence and energy when she spoke. She looked me in my eyes and said, ‘hey, let’s do it’. You don’t get that from a lot of girls.”
Shields’ promoter, Dmitriy Salita, told Sky Sports about Shields vs Price: “We’ve had positive conversations and I believe it’s a fight that can happen this year. It will likely take place in the US.
“Claressa traveling to the UK to attend Lauren’s fight is a sign of respect and recognition of her skills.
“Claressa has great appreciation for the fans and the boxing culture in the UK, so a future fight there is certainly not out of the question.”
Dmitriy Salita and Wynn Records guide the career of Shields (pic courtesy of Salita promotions/Stephanie Tapp)
‘I would make easy work of Price and Mayer’
Shields claimed Olympic gold at middleweight in London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and with Price doing likewise in Tokyo in 2020, the undefeated American says that makes a match-up between the two even more appealing.
Reflecting on Price’s hard-fought victory over Pineiro, Shields added: “Lauren was in the fight of her life but showed resilience, showed toughness, showed Olympic pedigree.”
Price was bloodied during her weekend win in Cardiff
Still, Shields expects to “make easy work” of Price and also three-weight world champion Mikaela Mayer if she ever fights her countrywoman.
Mayer is keen on that clash and Shields wants it too, but stressed that a showdown with Price is more significant.
“I told Mikaela yes – but this fight with Price is way bigger than me and Mikaela. Price is an Olympic champ, Mikaela is not. She is a great champion – but I will make easy work of both of them.
“Mikaela knows that. She is a bit taller and rangier than Lauren but I have been around Mikaela for years and me and her have never sparred. There is a reason for that…”
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If Shields were to take on Price away from home, it would be her first fight in the UK since she recorded a unanimous-decision victory over Savannah Marshall at London’s O2 Arena in 2022 – a bout she says showed her she was “greater than she thought”.
“I came over here and fought against a knockout artist in Savannah Marshall. She was supposed to knock me out. I took her to the deep waters and drowned her.
“That fight showed me I am so much more athletic and greater than I ever thought I was. I was strong for that fight, spent so much time with my coach, and just felt ready.
“Even when I was booed and people said, ‘she is going to beat you’, to dominate the way I did, it showed me ‘wow, you are really, really great’.”
