It irritates Claressa Shields’ promoter, however, every time he hears or reads about another female fighter being ranked ahead of the undefeated five-division champion on a pound-for-pound list.

The Ring ranks Taylor at No. 1 and Shields at No. 2 in its top 10, something Salita cannot comprehend as Shields nears her return to the middleweight division for a fight against WBA/WBC champ Kaye Scott on Saturday night at State Farm Arena in Atlanta (DAZN; 8:30 p.m. ET).

“I am a fan of Katie Taylor,” Salita told The Ring. “She’s a wonderful fighter. She’s great for boxing. I have complete respect and admiration for her. But this is not a correct comparison. Chantelle Cameron beat her, a lot of people think Delfine Persoon beat her [in their first fight] and her first fight with Amanda Serrano was very close and could’ve gone either way. Claressa has probably lost less than five rounds in her career, forget about losing a fight. She has lost very few rounds in her career. She is incredible.”

The only one of Shields’ professional fights that is considered competitive was her 10-round, unanimous-decision victory over rival Savannah Marshall. Shields (18-0, 3 KOs) avenged her only amateur loss when she defeated England’s Marshall (13-2, 10 KOs) by scores of 97-93, 97-93 and 96-94 in October 2022 at O2 Arena in London.

Marshall was undefeated when she encountered Shields almost four years ago, as was Germany’s Christina Hammer when Shields outboxed her and won 98-91, 98-91 and 98-92 to become undisputed middleweight champ in April 2019. Shields since became undisputed champion at junior middleweight, heavyweight and has her sights set on doing it again at middleweight after facing Scott.

“I would say I don’t wanna go there,” Salita said, “but society is not completely just and there is judgment towards color and where people are from. With Claressa, I’ve gotta say it does feel like that because it’s like two plus two is four, but people say, ‘No, no, no. Two plus two is 2½,’ or ‘it’s three.’ This is so clear and so defined by Claressa’s accomplishments inside the ring over and over and over again. It’s not debatable.”

Shields is a 30-1 favorite versus Scott (5-1-1), a 42-year-old Australian who won the then-vacant WBA and WBC belts in her last fight, a rematch against Chicago’s Olivia Curry (7-3-2, 2 KOs) she edged by majority decision December 20 at Fox Theater in Detroit. The 31-year-old Shields shut out Franchon Crews-Dezurn (10-3, 2 KOs, 1 NC), a former IBF/WBC/WBO super middleweight champ, on all three scorecards in her last fight, a 10-round rematch February 22 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

Assuming Shields defeats Scott, she expects to face unified welterweight champ Lauren Price (10-0, 2 KOs) next, sometime early in 2027. The Flint, Michigan native also wants to fight former Olympic teammate Mikaela Mayer (22-2, 5 KOs), who is scheduled to box Britain’s Cameron (22-1, 8 KOs) in a junior middleweight title unification fight August 29 at bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham, England.

Taylor, meanwhile, will face France’s Flora Pili (12-0, 2 KOs) in a fight for the 2012 Olympic gold medalist’s Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 140-pound championships September 5 in Dublin. The 40-year-old Taylor (25-1, 6 KOs) is a 20-1 favorite over Pili in another 10-round main event DAZN will stream internationally.

Salita, a retired junior welterweight contender who has promoted Shields throughout her pro career, finds it strange that he still somehow must convince some people of Shields’ superiority in the women’s ranks. He realizes the outspoken Shields is a polarizing figure on social media, but he emphasized that shouldn’t detract from what Shields has accomplished in the ring.

“She’s a two-time Olympic gold medalist,” Salita said. “She’s done things in amateur boxing that no woman has ever done before. She’s done things in professional boxing no woman has done before – winning titles fast, going up and down in weight, beating Franchon Crews and Christina Hammer and Savannah Marshall, the best of the best on the women’s pound-for-pound list. This isn’t an opinion – these are facts. By the numbers, she’s by far the best female fighter in the world.

“There will never be another Claressa Shields. And when you say that, it doesn’t take anything away from the other great female fighters that came before her or are currently active, that are great champions. But it’s not fair and it’s not the truth to compare Claressa to any other female fighter. I mean, objectively, by the numbers, they’re not even in the same stratosphere.”

■ The WBC has informed Noel Mikaelian that the cruiserweight champion might be stripped for fighting its No. 1 contender, Jai Opetaia (30-0, 23 KOs), on the Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn undercard September 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The WBC previously ordered Garcia to defend its welterweight title against Benn because Benn is its No. 1 contender. As if that ridiculous inconsistency isn’t exasperating enough, this is the same Benn who hasn’t fought at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds in more than four years. Still no reasonable explanation, either, as to why the WBC even ordered Mikaelian (25-3, 12 KOs) to fight David Benavidez next. Sanctioning organizations almost never order champions to fight other titleholders. The WBC mandated Mikaelian-Benavidez, according to president Mauricio Sulaiman, because Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs), the WBA and WBO champ, requested it.

■ Another year will unfortunately pass without us truly learning anything about just how special Osleys Iglesias could become. The announcement Friday morning of the IBF super middleweight champion’s next fight – an optional title defense against fifth-ranked Danish southpaw Oliver Zaren on October 8 – means his 2026 will likely amount to the 28-year-old Cuban knockout artist overpowering a pair of light-punching contenders in Russia’s Pavel Silyagin (16-1-1, 7 KOs) and Zaren (19-0-1, 8 KOs). It isn’t just that top super middleweights won’t fight him – they won’t even halfheartedly mention the possibility of facing Iglesias (15-0, 14 KOs).

■ Callum Simpson still isn’t a top-10 contender in the loaded super middleweight division, but the resolute Brit was impressive while avenging his 10th-round, technical-knockout loss to Troy Williamson on Saturday night in Leeds, England. A composed Simpson (19-1, 13 KOs) applied some of the teachings of his new trainer, Rob McCracken, in their first fight together, didn’t get reckless when he hurt Williamson in the third and seventh rounds and withstood some adversity when Williamson (22-5-1, 16 KOs) buzzed him in the ninth round to win their 12-round rematch comfortably on two of the scorecards (117-112, 116-112, 115-113).