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Can gold medalist boxer Claressa Shields repeat in Rio?

After becoming the first-ever gold medalist in women's boxing, Claressa Shields is far from done

May 27, 2015 8:00AM ET

by Sarah Hoye @Sarah_Hoye

FLINT, Mich. – Just after 10 a.m. earlier this month, Claressa Shields was midway through her morning run.

The 20-year-old was out training on Saginaw Street, a four-lane major thoroughfare connecting the city, for a shot to defend her gold medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Once a manufacturing powerhouse, the city of Flint is a far cry from its heyday. Without the auto plants unemployment and poverty have skyrocketed here. The staggering amount of abandoned homes and vacant lots are the remaining evidence of better times.

“It’s like any other African-American community that has poverty,” she said. “Everyone wants to fight over that last dollar, over that last nickel.”

As she made her way along her route, she passed a string of crumbling buildings and liquor stores – a stark reminder of her humble beginnings.

Growing up, Shields' father was behind bars while her mother struggled with alcohol, she said, adding that her parents aren’t the “worst” but are “pretty close.” A family member also raped and molested her, she said.

Olympic gold medal boxer Claressa Shields spars with training partner Ardreal Holmes at the Berston Field House in Flint, Michigan in September 2012.

Carlos Osorio/AP

But when she was 11, Shields stepped into the ring and never looked back. She's now America's most decorated women's boxer with a record of 56-1.

“I'm not this person who started boxing because I got raped and now I hate men,” Shields said. “No, it [doesn’t] have nothing to do with each other. I just started boxing cause I thought my dad could live some of his life through me and that he could be happy.”

Shields first met her father when she was 9. He told her stories about how he wished he stuck with boxing. But there was one tidbit of information from their chats that stuck with the young Shields: Out of all of boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s children, it was his daughter Laila who would make a name for herself inside the ring.

“I told myself if [Laila] could do it, so could I,” Shields said.

The price of success

Competing in the middleweight division, a 17-year-old Shields made history by winning the first Olympic gold medal in women's boxing at the 2012 Games in London. Talking about that day makes Shields squirm with excitement in her chair. She recalled shaking when the medal was placed around her neck.

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“For at least a week, I didn’t even want to take it off," she laughed. "I slept with my gold medal.”

Yet there was a moment, if ever so brief, when Shields thought about not fighting for gold. She was afraid that people would come out of the woodwork looking for help and manipulating her for money.

"I was like, ‘If I get silver, maybe it won't be so many,’ you know? “ she said. “I really had to think about that … I was like, ‘You know what? You can do it. God got you. Do it.’ And then after that, it just turned up.”

Claressa Shields reacts during the medal ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Ivan Sekretarev/AP

As she predicted, people did come looking for handouts, she said.

“I have a lot of cousins that I don’t know,” she said, smirking. “But I think that happens to any celebrity. I wonder how many cousins does Michael Phelps have?”

Not everyone wants something though. From driving alongside Shields while she runs and filming her shadowboxing in a parking lot to lending an ear, big sister Michelle Davison is always in her corner.

“It's really easy to get caught up in society, get caught up in trouble, or drugs, especially when you're surrounded by it. And Claressa has always been around that,” Davison said. “Throughout all the trials and tribulations she's been through, especially coming from what we come from, I’m just really proud of her.”

After winning gold in London, there wasn’t a Wheaties box with Shields' face on it or any major endorsements. There weren’t any star-studded bouts lined up for her, like the recent Floyd Mayweather–Manny Pacquiao fight that earned tens of millions of dollars for the prizefighters. All she got was a meager training stipend from the U.S. Olympic Committee, which Shields is hoping to supplement with money raised on her GoFundMe page.

Yet, she did catch the attention of filmmakers Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper who premiered the documentary “T-Rex,” chronicling Shields’ life story, at South By Southwest in March.

‘Two times’

Since winning gold, Shields left her longtime coach, Jason Crutchfield, to join forces with local trainer Leon Lawson II, whose father was sparring partners with Muhammad Ali and whose nephew Andre Dirrell won a bronze medal in 2004. For more than a year, Shields has been working out daily at Lawson's private gym.

“[Boxing] is a sport that we love, that’s important to us,” Lawson said. “I’m glad that it came back to prime time."

Lawson says he teaches his fighters what he calls the 5 P’s: “Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.” For Shields, it’s run, rest, train and repeat.

“She’s determined to win,” Lawson said. “Everything about her is just fitting of a champion. And that’s why she is champ.”

Meanwhile, Shields is keeping her eyes on the prize.

“Follow me to Rio 2016 so we can do it again,” she said. “Two times.”