Claressa Shields
| Claressa Shields | |
|---|---|
Shields in 2012
|
|
| Statistics | |
| Nickname(s) | T-Rex |
| Rated at | Middleweight, 165 lb (75 kg) |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) |
| Nationality | American |
| Born |
March 17, 1995 Flint, Michigan, U.S. |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 2 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Wins by KO | 1 |
| Losses | 0 |
Claressa Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American boxer, and the current NABF Female Middleweight title holder.
She won the gold in Women's Middleweight Boxing at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Olympics, which made her the first American boxer, male or female, to win an Olympic title twice in a row.
She was the youngest boxer at the February 2012 U.S. Olympic trials, where she won the 165-pound weight class. In May 2012, Shields qualified to compete at the 2012 Olympics, the first year that women's boxing was an Olympic event. At the London Olympic games in August 2012, she became the first U.S. woman to win a boxing gold medal. She won the 2012 Olympic middleweight title by defeating Russian boxer Nadezda Torlopova and the 2016 title by defeating Dutch boxer Nouchka Fontijn.
Shields was born and raised in Flint, Michigan, where she was a high school junior in May 2012. She was introduced to boxing by her father, Bo Shields, who had boxed in underground leagues. Bo was in prison from the time Shields was two years old, and released when she was nine. After his release he talked to her about boxer Laila Ali, piquing her interest in the sport, although Bo nevertheless believed that boxing was a men's sport and refused to allow Shields to pursue it until she was eleven. At that time she began boxing at Berston Field House in Flint, where she met her coach and trainer, Jason Crutchfield. Shields credits her grandmother with encouraging her to not accept restrictions based on her gender.
After winning two Junior Olympic championships Shields competed in her first open-division tournament, the National Police Athletic League Championships 2011; she won the middleweight title and was named top overall fighter as well as qualifying for the U.S. Olympic trials. At the trials in she defeated the reigning national champion, Franchon Crews, the 2010 world champion, Andrecia Wasson, and Pittsburgh's Tika Hemingway to win the middleweight class. In April 2011, she won her weight class at the Women's Elite Continental Championships in Cornwall, Ontario against three-time defending world champion Mary Spencer of Canada; she held an undefeated record of 25 wins and 0 losses at that point.
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