Flint’s Claressa Shields is a boxing champion who has been making history for years. She’s primed to do it again on Friday night.
Shields was 17 years old when she became the first American woman to win gold in boxing in the 2012 Olympics. She became the first American boxer, male or female, to win gold in back-to-back Olympic games.
It was impossible until I did it.
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) January 27, 2021
“When I started I knew I would be a great boxer, win the Olympics, everything else has just happened,” Shields said.
Shields was 77-1 as an amateur. Then she turned pro. In just her second professional fight in 2017 Shields headlined the first women’s boxing main event on premium cable.
“I didn’t think I’d fight on TV so soon either,” she said.
She became the unified super middleweight world champion in just her fourth professional fight. Unified middleweight champ in her 6th fight and unified super welterweight world champion in her 10th fight. She’s 10-0 as a pro with two knockouts.
Boxing has been good to Shields. She’s able to provide for her family. She bought a house in Flint, which turned into the go-to spot for her family on Holidays.
“We celebrate all the holidays there,” she said.
Shields signed with Professional Fighters League last December and has been training at Jackson-Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
She said her first MMA fight will be this summer. Before she gets in the cage, she’ll step back into the ring in Flint as part of a boxing celebration on International Women’s Day.
READ: More Women’s History Month coverage