Boxing fans “should be ashamed” of their reaction to heavyweight Kubrat Pulev kissing female reporter Jennifer Ravalo, says double Olympic champion Claressa Shields.

Ravalo said she was “humiliated” by the incident, while boxing chiefs in California have suspended Pulev.

Reaction has included a doctored image on social media of Ravalo in a compromising position with Pulev.

The 37-year-old Bulgarian has claimed the pair are friends.

Vegas Sports Daily’s Ravalo said she had only met Pulev a day before the incident, which happened after he defeated Romanian Bogdan Dinu in the American city of Costa Mesa last Saturday.

Ravalo, who works under the name Jenny SuShe, also alleged Pulev “grabbed both of my buttocks and squeezed with both of his hands”.

Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, claimed “the said assault was unlawful and unwelcome” and the boxer has been ordered to appear in front of the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), which says it “takes this incident seriously”.

Much of the reaction to Ravalo’s allegations on social media has been critical of the reporter.

American Shields said the “boxing fans commenting saying she should suck it up, she liked it… she asked for it, she’s doing it for the money” should “be ashamed of themselves”.

“I’m not saying Pulev should be sentenced to 20 years in jail, or any jail time at all,” added the 24-year-old unbeaten IBF, WBA and WBC middleweight champion.

“He needs to apologise and be held accountable, even if accountable means paying her, or apologising, and just letting it be known he knows what he did was wrong.”

Another photograph of Ravalo, allegedly showing her sitting happily with Pulev’s team at a post-fight party, has also been circulated widely on social media, along with a video of her allegedly sitting on the lap of a member of Pulev’s camp – both supposedly after the kissing incident.

They were posted on a Facebook account called Pulev Sport.

Pulev has yet to comment on Ravalo’s allegations, though he did issue a statement playing the incident down after footage of the kiss emerged earlier this week.

“Jenny is actually a friend of mine and, after the interview, I was so elated I gave her a kiss,” he said.

“Later that night, she joined me and my other friends at my post-fight celebration.”

[BBC]