Claressa Maria Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

and mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three

weight classes Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports, especially combat sports (such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and wrestling). Altern ...

, including the

undisputed Undisputed may refer to: Film * ''Undisputed'' (film), a 2002 action-thriller-drama film ** ''Undisputed'' (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the film * Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, a 2006 American martial arts film * Undisputed III: Redempt ...

female

light middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the IBF or super welterweight in the WBA an ...

title since March 2021; the undisputed female

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

title from 2019 to 2020; and the unified WBC and IBF female

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

titles from 2017 to 2018. Shields currently holds the record for becoming a two and three-weight world champion in the fewest professional fights. As of October 2022, she is ranked as the world's best active female middleweight by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

, as well as the best active female boxer,

pound for pound Pound for pound is a ranking used in combat sports, such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts, of who the better fighters are irrespective of their weight, i.e. adjusted to compensate for weight class. As these fighters do not compete direc ...

, by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and '' The Ring.'' Shields is the only boxer in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO—simultaneously, in two weight classes. In a decorated

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

career, Shields won gold medals in the women's middleweight division at the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

, making her the first American boxer to win consecutive Olympic medals. Shields was the youngest boxer at the February 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials, winning the event in the

division."Claressa Shields determined to make London Olympics."
USA Today, May 7, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012.Barnas, Jo-Ann
"Flint boxer Claressa Shields takes next step toward Olympics on Friday."
Detroit Free Press, May 10, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012. In May, she qualified for the 2012 games, the first year in which women's boxing was an Olympic event,Barnas, Jo-Ann
"Flint boxer Claressa Shields, 17, qualifies for Olympics."
Detroit Free Press, May 18, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012. and went on to become the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. Her only loss professional or amateur comes from British fighter

Savannah Marshall Savannah Rose Marshall (born 19 May 1991) is a British professional boxer who held the WBO female middleweight title between 2020 and 2022. As an amateur, she became the first British female world champion after securing gold at the 2012 Wo ...

. In 2018, the

Boxing Writers Association of America The Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) was originally formed in 1926 as the Boxing Writers Association of Greater New York. The association's purpose is to promote better working conditions for boxing writers, as well as hold its writers ...

named her the Female Fighter of the Year.

Early life

Shields was born and raised in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

, where she was a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

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 Laila Amaria Ali (born December 30, 1977) is an American television personality and retired professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2007. During her career, from which she retired undefeated, she held the World Boxing Council, WBC, Women's I ...

, piquing her interest in the sport. Bo, however, 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.

Amateur career

After winning two Junior Olympic championships, Shields competed in her first open-division tournament, the National

Police Athletic League The Police Athletic League (PAL; Police Activities League) is an organization in many American police departments in which members of the police force coach young people, both boys and girls, in sports, and help with homework and other school-rela ...

Championships 2011; she won the middleweight title and was named top overall fighter and also qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials. At the 2012 Olympic Trials, she defeated the reigning national champion, Franchón Crews-Dezurn, 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."Flint teen aims to be 1 of the first female boxers at Olympics."

WDIV WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings, Graham ...

, April 18, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2012. Following Shields' victory at the U.S. Olympic Trials, it was initially reported that she would need only a top-8 finish at the

2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships The 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships was held in Qinhuangdao, China from May 9 to May 22, 2012. For the first time, this world championship served as a qualifier for the 2012 Summer Olympics. 305 boxers participated from 70 countri ...

Qinhuangdao Qinhuangdao (; ) is a port city on the coast of China in northern Hebei. It is administratively a prefecture-level city, about east of Beijing, on the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. Its population during the 2020 national ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, in order to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. Claressa Shields - PopTech 2012

On May 10, the day after the contest began but before Shields' first bout, a change to the rules was announced that meant Shields would need to place in the top two from the (North, Central, and South) American Boxing Confederation region of AIBA (AMBC).Barnas, Jo-Ann
"Flint boxer Claressa Shields' path to Olympics changes course."
Detroit Free Press, May 11, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012. Shields won her first round but was beaten in the second round on May 13 to

of England, bringing Shields' record to 26–1. Her chances for qualification thus depended on Marshall's subsequent performance; after Marshall advanced to the middleweight finals on May 18, it was announced that Shields had earned an Olympic berth. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, she won the gold medal in the women's middleweight division after beating Russian boxer Nadezda Torlopova 19–12. In 2014, Shields won the World Championship gold medal, and the following year, she became the first American to win titles in women's boxing at the Olympics and Pan American Games. As a result of her performance in the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

, she was given the honour of serving as Team USA’s flag bearer at the

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

. Shields won the gold medal at the 2016 AMBC Olympic Qualifying tournament in Argentina. Later that year at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in Rio, she won the gold medal in the women's middleweight division by defeating

Nouchka Fontijn Nouchka Fontijn (; born 9 November 1987) is a retired Dutch boxer. She is the current European champion in the women's middleweight or 75 kg class after winning gold at both the European Games in 2015 and the European Championships in 2014 ...

of the Netherlands. She was awarded the inaugural women's division of the Val Barker Trophy at the competition. Her back-to-back Olympic gold medal wins made her the first American boxer to win consecutive Olympic titles. Her amateur boxing record was 64 wins (5 by knockout) and 1 loss.

Professional boxing career

In November 2016, Shields officially went pro. She won her first match, against Franchón Crews-Dezurn, by unanimous decision. On March 10, 2017, she faced Szilvia Szabados for the

North American Boxing Federation The North American Boxing Federation (NABF) is a not-for-profit regional sanctioning body that awards regional boxing titles. It is a boxing federation within the World Boxing Council (WBC). History The WBC established the NABF in 1969 as part of i ...

middleweight title, and won by TKO. This was the main event on ShoBox, with a regional title fight between

Antonio Nieves Antonio Jose Nieves (born May 25, 1987) is an American professional boxer who challenged for the World Boxing Organization junior bantamweight title in 2017. Amateur career Nieves is a multiple-time Cleveland Golden Gloves open champion and was ...

and Nikolai Potapov serving as the co-main event. It was the first time a women's boxing bout was the main event on a United States premium network card. On June 16, 2017, Shields headlined the "Detroit Brawl," facing Sydney LeBlanc in her first scheduled eight-round bout. LeBlanc signed on with three days notice, after Mery Rancier dropped out due to visa issues. Shields won the bout by decision after all eight rounds. On August 4, 2017, Shields defeated defending champ Nikki Adler in Detroit for the WBC

super-middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

belt and the vacant

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

super-middleweight belt. By 5th Rd TKO the ref had to jump in to protect The undefeated Nikki Adler. The fight was on Showtime. On January 12, 2018, Shields retained her WBC and IBF female super middleweight titles, and won the WBAN super-middleweight title by defeating 17-0

Tori Nelson Tori Jovan Nelson (born August 26, 1976) is an American professional boxer. She is a former three-weight world champion, having held the WBC female middleweight title in 2011: the WIBA middleweight title in 2012; the WIBA welterweight from 2013 ...

. It was Shields' first time going all 10 rounds in her professional career. On June 22, 2018, in just her sixth professional fight, Shields defeated

Hanna Gabriel Hanna Gabriels Valle (born 14 January 1983) is a Costa Rican professional boxer. She has held world championships in four weight classes, having held the WBA female light middleweight title since 2016; the WBA female light heavyweight and ...

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

, winning the vacant WBA and inaugural IBF

belts, breaking the record for becoming a two-weight world champion in the fewest professional fights, a record previously held by

Vasyl Lomachenko Vasyl Anatoliyovych Lomachenko ( uk, Василь Анатолійович Ломаченко, ; also spelled Vasiliy; born 17 February 1988) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes fr ...

. During Round 1, she experienced the first knock down of her professional career. She dropped down from 168 pounds to 160 for the fight. This was her first fight with trainer John David Jackson, having worked with Jason Crutchfield for the previous 5. On December 8, 2018, Shields' fight aired on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

, her first appearance on the network, a fight which was a part of the last boxing card to occur on HBO. She faced Femke Herman's outboxing her all 10 rounds for a unanimous decision. On April 13, 2019, Shields became the

women's middleweight world champion, unifying the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO middleweight titles, along with '' The Ring'' magazine's inaugural middleweight belt, after defeating

Christina Hammer Christina Hammer (born 16 August 1990) is a Kazakhstani-born German boxer. As a professional, she has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO female middleweight title from 2010 to 2019, becoming the youngest ...

by unanimous decision. The victory was a near shutout with two judges scoring the bout 98–91 while a third judge scored it 98–92. Shields was scheduled to fight

Ivana Habazin Ivana Habazin (born 22 October 1989) is a Croatian professional boxer. She is a former two-weight world champion, having held the IBF female welterweight title in 2014 and the IBO female middleweight title in 2018. Early life Habazin was bor ...

for the vacant WBO

junior middleweight Light middleweight, also known as junior middleweight or super welterweight,PeBoxRec/ref> is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing The light middleweight division (also known as junior middleweight in the International Boxing Federation, IBF or ...

title in Flint, Michigan, on October 5, 2019. However, the fight was postponed due to Habazin's trainer being attacked at the weigh in. On January 10, 2020, the battle between Shields and Habazin took place with an all female ring (referee). The Atlantic boardwalk hall had a sold out Venue as Claressa won by unanimous decision, 99–89, 100–90 and 100–89, and became the fastest ever to win titles in 3 divisions male or female in history. On March 5, 2021, Shields defeated Marie-Eve Dicaire by unanimous decision to retain her WBC and WBO super welterweight titles, claim IBF 154-pound belt, and vacant WBA light middleweight strap. With the win she has become the first world champion boxer in four-belt era to hold undisputed titles in two different weight divisions. This Fight took place in Shields hometown with limited crowd due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Shields then faced Ema Kozin on February 5, 2022. She captured an unanimous decision with all referees scoring every round for her, and retained her WBA, WBC, IBF, and ''The Ring'' female middleweight titles meanwhile winning the WBF female middleweight title also. Shields was initially scheduled to face reigning WBO Middleweight Champion

in a title unification bout on September 10, 2022. However, due to the

death of Queen Elizabeth II On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death wa ...

the bout was postponed to take place on October 15, 2022. On the night of the fight, Shields went the full 10 round distance against Marshall. According to CompuBox stats, Shields outlanded Marshall 175 to 136; landed significantly more jabs, 44 to 14; and landed more power, 131 to 122. Shields won via unanimous decision with two judges scoring the fight 97–93 and one scoring it 96–94, all in favor of Shields to become the undisputed middleweight world champion. This fight occurred at

the O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

and was the first time two female boxers headlined at a major venue in the United Kingdom. As well, the fight headlined the first all-female boxing card in the United Kingdom.

Professional mixed martial arts career

In November 2020, Shields had signed a three-year contract with

Professional Fighters League The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is an American mixed martial arts league founded by venture capitalist Donn Davis in 2017 and launched in 2018, following the acquisition and restructuring of the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) promot ...

and was expected to make her mixed martial arts debut in 2021. Since Shields first announced that her MMA debut, she has also begun training in

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

and has gone to train under IBJJF no gi World Champion Roberto Alencar, alongside

Holly Holm Holly Rene Holm (born October 17, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist, who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She is the former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, and a former professional boxer. She was a multiple-time world ...

. She also started training at JacksonWink MMA in late 2020. Shields made her MMA debut at PFL 4 on June 10, 2021, against Brittney Elkin. She won the fight via technical knockout in round three. Her second bout was initially scheduled to take place on the PFL 9 event on August 27, 2021, against an opponent yet to be named. However, on July 12, 2021, news surfaced that her bout was rescheduled to take place on August 19, 2021, in order to garner more exposure at an ESPN-aired PFL 8 event. It was eventually rescheduled for PFL 10 on October 27, 2021, with Shields facing Abigail Montes. Shields lost the bout via split decision.

Personal life

Shields is from Flint, Michigan. Shields was baptized at age 13 (two years after she began boxing) and began attending a local church. She found strength in her Christian faith and eventually left home. Shields attempted to adopt her cousin's daughter in 2014. Shields is an ambassador for Up2Us Sports, a national non-profit organization dedicated to supporting underserved youth by providing them with coaches trained in positive youth development. Shields is also an ambassador for gender equality in sports, particularly boxing, which she insists is under-covered by the media. Shields is a

pescatarian Pescetarianism (; sometimes spelled pescatarianism) is the practice of incorporating seafood into an otherwise vegetarian diet. Pescetarians may or may not consume other animal products such as eggs and dairy products. Approximately 3% of adul ...

Filmography

Shields is the subject of the 2015 documentary ''T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold''. In 2016

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, a division of Comcast, which holds Olympic broadcast rights in the United States, acquired the rights to produce a film about her life story.

Barry Jenkins Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film ''My Josephine'' (2003), he directed his first feature film ''Medicine for Melancholy'' (2008) for which he received an Indep ...

is the screenwriter. Entitled ''

Flint Strong ''The Fire Inside'' is an upcoming American biographical sports film by Rachel Morrison in her feature directional debut. The film is based on ''T-Rex'', a 2015 documentary about American professional boxer Claressa "T-Rex" Shields training for ...

'',

Rachel Morrison Rachel Morrison (born April 27, 1978) is an American cinematographer and director. For her work on '' Mudbound'' (2017), Morrison earned a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, making her the first woman ever nominated in that ...

will be directing, with actress

Ryan Destiny Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elector ...

portraying Shields. Shields will be acting in the

Susan Seidelman Susan Seidelman (Born December 11, 1952) is an American film director, producer, and writer. She first came to notice with '' Smithereens'' (1982), the earliest American independent feature to be screened in Competition at the Cannes Film Festiva ...

-directed film ''Punch Me''. In 2018, Shields acted in a

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

ad directed by

Dee Rees Diandrea Rees (born February 7, 1977) is an American screenwriter and director. She is known for her feature films '' Pariah'' (2011), '' Bessie'' (2015), ''Mudbound'' (2017), and '' The Last Thing He Wanted'' (2020). Rees has also written and di ...

Awards

In 2017, Shields won the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

Kids' Choice Sports Award for "Biggest Powerhouse." In 2018, Shields was inducted into the USA Boxing Alumni Association's Hall of Fame. The

gave her the 2018 Christy Martin Award - Female Fighter of the Year.

Professional boxing record

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 1–1 , Abigail Montes , Decision (split) , PFL 10 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami. As of July 1, 2019, Hollywood had a population of 154,817. Founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Brittney Elkin , TKO (punches) , PFL 4 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 1:44 ,

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

, United States , , -

References

External links

* *
Claressa Shields
at PFL * * *
America's Boxing Women Aim for the Olympics
at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' * , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Shields, Claressa 1995 births Living people American women boxers African-American boxers Boxers from Michigan Sportspeople from Flint, Michigan African-American mixed martial artists African-American sportswomen American female mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing Boxers at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in boxing AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships medalists World light-middleweight boxing champions World middleweight boxing champions World super-middleweight boxing champions World Boxing Council champions International Boxing Federation champions World Boxing Association champions World Boxing Organization champions The Ring (magazine) champions Olivet College alumni 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women