Claressa Shields

Claressa Maria Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American professional boxer and professional mixed martial artist.

She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021; the undisputed female middleweight title from 2019 to 2020; and the unified WBC and IBF female super middleweight 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 the world's best active female middleweight by BoxRec, as well as the best active female boxer, pound for pound, by ESPN and The Ring.

Shields is one of only three boxers in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO, in two weight classes.

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 and also qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

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.

In a decorated amateur career, Shields won gold medals in the women's middleweight division at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, 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 165 lb middleweight division.

In May, she qualified for the 2012 Games, the first year in which women's boxing was an Olympic event, and went on to become the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing.

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.

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.

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.

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 in Qinhuangdao, China, in order to qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

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).

Shields won her first round but was beaten in the second round on May 13 to Savannah Marshall 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 in London, aged 17, she won the gold medal in the women's middleweight division after beating veteran 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, she was given the honour of serving as Team USA's flag bearer at the closing ceremony.

Shields won the gold medal at the 2016 AMBC Olympic Qualifying tournament in Argentina defeating Dominican Republic's Yenebier Guillen in her final bout on her 21st birthday.

Later that year at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, she won the gold medal in the women's middleweight division by defeating Nouchka Fontijn 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.

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 middleweight title, and won by TKO.

This was the main event on ShoBox, with a regional title fight between Antonio Nieves 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.

In 2018, the Boxing Writers Association of America named her the Female Fighter of the Year.

Shields is also a professional mixed martial artist, competing in the Professional Fighters League.