NEVER LOOK BACK
After surviving a grisly childhood, Claressa Shields became a golden girl for the new boxing generation. Here, she tells Chris Walker that there is still lots to aim at THERE’S NO GOING LOWER THAN WHERE I’VE BEEN, BUT I HAD TO GO THERE TO GET HERE
FEMALE fighters have often encountered their toughest opponents outside the ring. One doesn’t have to delve too deep into the archives to find Jane Couch undertaking a long and gruelling battle with parliament just to enter the squared circle, while Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier wrestled to escape their respective fathers’ mountainous shadows many years after the original rivalry began. For Claressa Shields, the aforementioned struggles would be considered elementary-standard foes.
A product of Flint, Michigan, a city notorious for its recent water crisis, Shields entered the world kicking and screaming in 1995, and it would be some time before the crying stopped. She endured a torrid childhood, suffering from a severe speech impediment, absent parents and most shockingly of all, sexual abuse from an individual known to her family. Shields has touched on the subject several times and there’s no doubt that the unwanted experiences she’s had to tolerate have reconstructed her into arguably the finest female fighter of all time – at least in the amateur code.
“There’s no going lower than where I’ve been,” insists Shields, “but I had to go there to get here.” Some earlier descriptions of the two-time Olympic middleweight champion’s adolescence omit her former status as a victim of bullying when attending school in Flint. The word ‘victim’ is a menacing feature in the 22-year-old’s story due to the physical and emotional punishment she sustained growing up; with both her parents unable to provide a consistent platform of support, alternative leaders emerged from her community who enabled Shields to discover her purpose.
“Even to this day I don’t blame my parents because everything that has happened to me was for a reason, and that’s what I really believe has given me the strength and character to achieve what I have achieved,” she declares defiantly. “My dad spent time in jail when I was young so he wasn’t around, and my mum had a real problem with alcohol that she couldn’t fight, and she would abuse it really bad, which meant she couldn’t care for her children. It made me angry and I went through school angry and I was this angry kid just going about doing my thing. My dad told me about boxing and I gave it a try and it’s still with me to this day. After Jesus Christ and my faith, boxing is the most important thing in my life.”
Throughout our call, Shields maintains a determination to look forward, something she has been doing since the age of five. The scars of a savage childhood that could have ended in disaster have been replaced with positivity and ambition. It’s a mindset that probably saved her life.
“Do you think I’m going to take what they’re throwing at me and not fight back?” she asks rhetorically. “That wasn’t God’s plan for me. My lowest point in my life was when I was a young girl and sometimes I’d ask if God had forgotten about me, but I gave it time and then gave it some more time, and in the end he came through for me. I was never going to give up until he did. My life wasn’t meant to be easy and that’s why I still love my mum and dad so much to this day, because if they made life simple for me then there’s no way I’d have the heart and drive that I have now. There was no one to take care of me at times when I was young and it was then that I realised that I had to take care of myself.”
Inheriting a selfishness different from the manner those closest to her displayed, Shields chose boxing as her salvation. A beautiful young lady still in her teens, Shields resisted familiar weekend
pastimes of boyfriends, shopping ➤
➤ trips and nightclubs often reserved for your typical 17-year-old American, and embarked on a crusade that would take in a heap of international medals, including back-to-back Olympic golds at London and Rio. In a very short time, Shields had proven herself as an elite amateur and she had every intention of replicating that form when fighting professionally.
Typical of most star Olympic boxers, Shields’ paid infancy has been routine work thus far, with comprehensive victories over Franchon Crews Dezurn and Szilvia Szabados. Her third outing, this Friday (June 16) against Mery Rancier, could possibly serve as a final examination on her apprenticeship as she seeks out the most daunting tasks within the women’s boxing landscape. Armed with a wealth of honours from travelling the world and beating all-comers, Shields isn’t participating in the sport to knock over soft touches. You can sense her thirst for high-calibre challenges when she offers her thoughts on opposing one of female boxing’s leading names, Germany-based Kazakh, Christina Hammer.
“My team are working for me behind the scenes, so that makes life that little bit easier and allows me to concentrate on the fight ahead and give me the best possible chance of getting everything I want from this sport,” she points out. “I definitely want a world title before the end of the year and I know it’s been mentioned that Christina Hammer is going to be a guest at my next fight, so hopefully we can agree something and give the people one of the best female fights there has ever been. 2018 is the year that I think that fight will take place and that shows you just how quick I want to move. All I want to do is be the best I possibly can be and fights like that allow me to try and do that.”
Emulating the fast-track mentality that exists amongst a minority of male boxers, Shields is keen to add an array of pro world titles to her multiple amateur achievements. Underneath her desire to collect belts and plaudits is something else, though. Her need to leave a legacy for generations of female boxers long after her retirement is as important to her as it is to the sport. Shields is well aware she entered a man’s world, but the reaction she has received from her male peers speaks to the overwhelming impact Claressa has made.
“The guys are cool with me,” she reflects. “Andre Dirrell is one of my friends and I spend a lot of time with him and his family and he’s always looking out for me. I’ve had people like [Andre] Ward tell me that they appreciate my work and Shakur Stevenson is also someone who gives me a lot of love. I’m going through the exact same thing those fighters are going
I WANT A WORLD TITLE BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR. I KNOW CHRISTINA HAMMER HAS BEEN MENTIONED
through, so for anyone to not give me my respect or to say I don’t belong in the sport is just ignorant. I love boxing and I love what it has done for me and although I don’t love hurting after sparring or fighting, I realise what it has done for me and for my life.”
Shields’ battles with her background and upbringing have ended with her arm raised several times, with life forced to admit that she’s a hard lady to beat. Her former environment, swamped with warped characters ranging from classroom bullies to sexual predators, perhaps would have brought down the vast majority of people, but a steely resilience allowed Shields to focus whatever energy remained and slowly escape from an existence that would likely be unimaginable to you and I. Still, she maintains that her work is not finished.
“It’s all about the female boxers who are coming after me now and what I can do for them,” she states, quickly warming to her theme. “I’m not going to be here forever. I need to make sure that female boxing is in good hands and that women can have careers as boxers. I want to go in the ring and be the first woman to have a million-dollar purse and have a million buys on pay-per-view and show women who do want to box that you can take part in big fights. This is what motivates me today and it’s so important that I try to leave women’s boxing in a better place than where I found it.”