| BoxingTalk Story |
Compiled By Scott Shaffer
09/11/2026
World middleweight (and heavyweight) champion Claressa Shields and her promoter Dmitriy Salita made a large offer to world junior middleweight champion Chantelle Cameron and Cameron's promoter Most Valuable Promotions, but a deal was not reached, and it appears from tweets issued by MVP's Nakisa Bidarian that Cameron has moved on. Here is the chain of tweets showing how it fell apart, starting from latest to earliest:
Salita: "By taking these negotiations public, you showed that you were looking for a way to say no, not a way to make this fight. If you genuinely wanted to make the fight, the negotiations would have stayed private and constructive. Since you chose to make them public, I’m putting the facts on the record: We offered $1.1 million, plus an escalating percentage of ticket sales from the first dollar. Claressa has consistently generated seven-figure gates, and that percentage would have added significant revenue to total compensation. MVP insisted on a $25,000 liquidated-damages payment each time Claressa made a statement they viewed as negative toward Jake Paul or MVP. We would not agree to terms that put a price on a fighter’s speech. We did agree to a standard, mutual non-disparagement clause. We agreed to neutral judges and industry-standard accommodations for a fight of this magnitude. There are always granular details to work through. In more than 30 years as a fighter and promoter, I’ve never seen a million-dollar fight defined by a per diem disagreement. As we say in boxing, there are a million ways to say no and one way to say yes. We are fighter-first and fan-first. We have a responsibility to the fighters, whose careers are finite, and to the fans to make the biggest fights possible. We have always wanted Claressa vs. Chantelle, and we remain ready to work with MVP to make it happen. Taking negotiations public does not move us closer to the ring. We’re ready to return to the table and get this fight done."
Bidarian: "MVP has demonstrated we will make the biggest fights and put the wishes of our fighters first. We worked with Eddie Hearn even when he was suing Jake Paul. We worked with Misfits whose CEO is Jake Paul’s longest running feud. And we agreed for a guaranteed deal for Chantelle Cameron to fight Claressa Shields on the basis of no involvement from MVP, because it was a great opportunity for our fighter and exciting for the fans. Unfortunately, we are not dealing with professional people. That guaranteed pay for our fighter was then reneged on by them and reduced by 27%. Moreover, the offer was below market rates on per diems, security, etc. which was ridiculous given this is the #1 vs #2 fight. It felt like we were agreeing to a low-budget production, which is not how we present our athletes. Most importantly the offer was not more than our fighter has made in previous fights; it was consistent with her previous biggest fights. We gave them one last opportunity to go back to their original offer 5 days ago. They passed. We have moved on. Next time do not put an offer on the table and then change your mind. One day I hope Claressa gets the right advisors around her, apologizes for attacking our fighter in an event where she was our guest, and truly reaches her potential. She has achieved a lot but it can be so much more."