Army boxer fights way to Oly for US
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., July 7, (AP): Claressa Shields is the most successful American amateur boxer of her generation. She dominated the middleweight division at the past two Olympics, overwhelming every opponent and becoming the only U.S. fighter to claim two boxing golds.
With Shields on to her pro careers in boxing and mixed martial arts, the most successful boxing nation in Olympic history needed a replacement for Tokyo at the weight class Shields had dominated ever since women were allowed to fight at the games nine years ago.
USA Boxing found a soldier. Naomi Graham is aware of the importance of being chosen to follow Shields at 75 kilograms in Tokyo, but she’s faced bigger pressures in her life. Six years older than Shields, she’s a relative newcomer to high-level boxing, only picking it up a decade ago and fighting her way to Olympic contention while also serving in the Army as a staff sergeant and ammunition specialist.
BOXING
Graham will be the first female active-duty service member to fight for the U.S. at the Olympics, and she relishes the history she’s making.
“I feel like a regular person that’s just pursuing my dreams,” Graham said. “And then I have to think, and I’m like, ‘Wow, there really is a lot of people who have tried to do this who haven’t been able to.’ I just want to keep inspiring.”
Graham had been fascinated by boxing since her childhood in Fayetteville, North Carolina, but her mother kept her out of the ring even though her six-years-older sister, Rachel Clark, trained in the sport and eventually boxed professionally from 2008 to 2011.