‘Imagine if she said the great black champion’: Female boxing ace Shields makes bizarre ‘great white hope’ dig, jabs ‘clown’ Paul

Boxing braggart Claressa Shields, who has claimed that she is the greatest of all time only behind Muhammad Ali, has issued a baffling threat appearing to reference champ Savannah Marshall's race – and called Jake Paul a "clown".

Trailblazer Shields was evidently riled by promoter Eddie Hearn's prediction that she would struggle to go the distance with Marshall, the WBO middleweight champion from England who extended her unbeaten professional record to ten wins with a third-round knockout of Maria Lindberg in London on Saturday.

The three-weight multiple world champion and Olympic gold medalist made a highly questionable choice of wording as she warned that she would beat British fighter Marshall for the right payday.

"Eddie can say what he wants," the boxing loudmouth and MMA fighter told her Twitter following. "He knows, [if] he gets the money right, that the great white hope will be no more."

The term Shields used to describe Marshall originates from the 1967 play about Jack Johnson, the first African-American to hold the World Heavyweight Championship title at a time of racial segregation and tension in the US.

The 'great white hope' was a reference to the many people at the time who wanted a white boxer to finally beat Johnson.

"Champ, imagine she said the great black champion will be no more?" replied professional boxer and former Premier League football Leon McKenzie in a now-deleted tweet.

"It’s a problem. We're going to kick up. I guess sometimes less said is more impactful. Looking forward to the fight."

When he was challenged on his comments, McKenzie added: "I was actually confirming it didn’t sit right. I was trying to be positive from what I saw as negative. I'm proud of my colour, yes – I’m also proud of my mum."

Many fans were confused by Shields' unprovoked remarks. "Race card?" asked one. "Seriously, we all want a fight between you and Marshall but keep race out of it."

Another said: "I think you are an amazing boxer – best female boxer out there. But it’s not about race, girl.

"To be honest, I think Eddie knows that you will beat his fighters. He wants to make as much money as possible for that fight, letting it build. Still, you can’t stop the inevitable."

Shields has been open about her need to be outspoken to earn the attention she feels she deserves.

Taking aim at YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, who fights ex-UFC star Ben Askren on Saturday, she called the celebrity and his equally high-profile brother, Logan, "clown shows".

“I like when the older fighters come back, like Roy Jones versus Mike Tyson," Shields told My Betting Sites.

"Respect to them for training, I guess – but I'd much rather see Mike Tyson versus Evander Holyfield or something.

"I don’t want to see Floyd beat up Logan Paul but Floyd can do whatever he wants, he’s accomplished everything so he gets to call his own shots – it’s just something I don't want to see.

“No-one’s ever mentioned an exhibition to me because they know I do real fights. I would whoop Jake Paul’s ass, though, just because he thinks boxing is easy.

"I saw him do an interview recently where he said YouTube is harder than boxing. What – being a Youtube star is harder than being a boxing?

"He said something about posting to YouTube for 800 days straight. Big whoop, you posted a video. Do you understand what it takes to become a boxing world champion? I have trained more than 800 days. Putting up a video, for one it’s free.

"You just post this s**t, the internet is doing the hard work, you’re not doing nothing. So for him to say YouTube is harder than boxing, I was like: people are giving him a platform to say all kinds of dumb stuff."

Shields used her channel, where she calls herself the 'GWOAT', to eviscerate Marshall's "padded" record in a fight-by-fight breakdown of her potential opponent's career, as well as blasting Hearn for saying "adorable, backstabbing, weird things."

"Eddie Hearn, if you love me, pay me," she told him, attempting to tempt the most high-profile British matchmaker to dissuade her from continuing her move into MMA.

"You want boxing to be equal, you want to close the disparity gap for women's boxing – just give me the money I ask for and we can make the fight."