By BUTCH HARMON
For years, the Flint area has been known for producing great basketball and football players. When it comes to boxing, the Byrds have long been the first family of Flint. This summer, a new pride of Flint emerged and took her place as one of Flint’s finest. Claressa Shields took the boxing world by storm in August, as she was among the first females to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport of boxing.
Shields captured her gold medal when she won the middleweight division at the London Olympics.
Women’s boxing made its Olympic debut this summer. The Olympic games capped off an incredible six-year journey that began when Shields was an 11-year old and first came through the doors of the famed Berston Field House on Flint’s north side.
“I didn’t even notice her when she walked in that first day,” said Jason Crutchfield, one of Shields’ trainers. “She came in with a bunch of kids that first day and I didn’t know her name, but after a few weeks and watching her skills, I told her to come over and I took her under my wings. After watching her, you couldn’t help but notice her skill level.”
Crutchfield also found out that Shields had more then just boxing skills going for her.
“She has a great skill level, but the thing about Claressa is her inner drive,” Crutchfield said. “She has something inside of her that makes her never give up. She has a determination that is out of this world. I wish that I had that determination when I was a fighter.”
Since the first day she walked into the Berston Field House and made her way to the downstairs boxing gym, Shields has steadily improved as a boxer. A young novice’s dream of making the Olympics became reality when Shields dazzled the fans at last year’s Police Athletic League (PAL) national tournament and was invited to the Olympic trials. She won a berth on the first U.S. Olympic team and was won her way to London in August.
Shields put on a dazzling show at the Olympics, as she won all three of her fights including the gold-medal bout against Nadezda Torlopova of Russia. Shields overcame a slow start to outpoint the 33-year old Russian 19-12 to win the Gold.
While Shields started slow, she never doubted that she would bring home the Gold.
“I knew after the first round that I would win,” she said. “I even knew before I entered the ring that I would win. It was 3-3 at the end of the first round, but I knew I had her.”
Having the gold medal placed around her neck and hearing the national anthem brought about different emotions for Shields. “I thought it was unbelievable,” she said. “Sometimes I wonder, did I really win a gold medal? It’s still hard to believe, but then I take a look at that gold medal right there in my room and I know it’s true.”
The road to the Gold was paved in anything but gold for Shields, who, like many in the Flint area, has had to travel a tough road.
Shields was introduced to boxing by her father, Clarence Shields, once a talented amateur boxer whose career was derailed by crime. The elder Shields served a seven-year stint in jail for breaking and entering, but he also instilled a love of boxing in Claressa.
“My dad taught me about boxing,” Claressa said. “He told me about Laila Ali and how she took after her dad. It was his way of telling me about boxing and I took after my day and became a boxer, like Laila took after her dad and became a boxer. My dad was the one who signed me up for boxing when I was 11.”
Shields began boxing at the Berston Field House, which has been the heart of boxing in Flint for years. Former Olympic Bronze medalist Andre Dirrell called Berston home, as did former WBO and IBF champion Chris Byrd.
Along with learning the skills of the sweet science, Shields learned about the history of the sport. It was some of boxing’s legends who began to interest Shields and whom she began to look up to. While many would think that Laila Ali would be her role model, Claressa instead chose boxers who dominated the sport over a half century ago.
“She [Laila] is a great person, but as far as boxing, my role model is not even a female boxer,” Shields said. “Joe Louis and Sugar Ray Robinson are my role models. I learned about them from the older men at the gym and my trainer. I just liked the way they boxed and what they did during their careers.”
Claressa slowly gained experience as a boxer and saw her career bloom. She has outstanding athletic skills, and when she entered Flint Northwestern High School, she also participated in other sports. Shields has been a member of the basketball team at Northwestern and plans on playing again this year as a senior. She has also run cross country while in high school.
Women’s boxing was added as an Olympic sport four years ago, and up until last year, boxing in the Olympics had to be considered nothing but a lofty dream for Shields.
That was until Crutchfield signed her up for the Naional PAL Boxing Championship last October. The PAL tourney was the first senior tournament for Claressa, who was 16 years old at the time. She went on to win her weight class at the PAL, and that victory qualified her for the U.S. Olympic trials in February.
Shields was still somewhat of an unknown heading into the 2012 Women’s Boxing Olympic Trials. While people knew of her, they didn’t know that much.
Shields was asked before the Olympic Trials if people knew she was talented, to which she replied, “People knew, but I don’t think they knew how good I was. They didn’t know I would do it.”
Shields then went on to show people just how talented she is, as she won her four matches by a combined score of 108-64 and made the team. She made the team’s age cutoff by only two months, as she turned 17 on March 17.
Shields continued her dominating performances at the London Olympics in August. After an opening-round bye, she defeated three-time world champion Anna Laurell of Sweden 18-14. In the semifinals, Shields defeated Marina Volnova of Kazakhstan 29-15 to send her to the finals, from where she brought the gold medal back to Flint and finish the journey that began six years ago.
“You know, I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” Shields said. “I think once I write it down in my diary it will sink in. I walk around and everyone talks to me about the Olympics, but I haven’t had time to write it down because I’ve been so busy.”
Shields has also had to adjust to instant celebrity.
“When I go out now, everybody recognizes me,” Shields said. “People are always stopping me for pictures or autographs. It’s okay, because I know it comes with the territory.”
Shields is not only a celebrity in mid-Michigan, but she is also quickly becoming a role model to people of all ages.
“A lot of kids look up to her,” Crutchfield said. “Not only kids, but women of all ages. We get a lot of letters from grown women that she inspires. I get a lot from grown women saying that Claressa inspires them to do something or be something.”
Shields herself is not done doing things in and out of the boxing ring. Outside of boxing, Shields, who takes honors classes in high school, wants to attend college next year and plans to become a photojournalist.
“Sue Johnson from the New York Times has been following me for the past year and has taken some great pictures of me,” Shields said. “That has really gotten me into photojournalism. It’s really great how she can capture the moment with pictures, and it’s something that I would like to do.”
As a boxer, the future is wide open for Shields who, at just 17 years old, often boxes women 10 years or more older then she is.
“I’d like to box forever,” Shields said. “I’d like to box in the Olympics again. In four years, I will still be just 21, and then I can go pro for five or seven years till I’m 26 or 28.”
Her trainer sees Shields as an impact boxer in the sport of women’s boxing, which is still in its infant stage.
“I think Claressa can be a difference maker in women’s boxing,” Crutchfield said. “Once she gets more exposure on TV and the people really support her. What she did at the Olympics, that was like 55 to 70 percent of her talent. She is even better than what people saw. I think you will see 100 percent next month at the PAL tournament in Toledo. That is the tournament that got her qualified for the Olympics, so we want to go back down there and give back.”
Shields will be competing at the national PAL tournament October 6-13 in Toledo. That tournament will give many of Shields’ mid-Michigan fans a chance to see her in action live.
Shields also has the 2014 Pan American games marked on her calendar as another big tournament.
Making an impact on her community is important for Shields, who has spent all her life in Flint.
“It [the Olympics] was huge for Flint,” Shields said. “It was the first time I ever seen Flint really come together, the whole area. It made a huge impact on the area, and it was great to see Flint come together.”
The gold medal also stamped her legacy as a Flint boxer.
“Flint loved it,” Crutchfield said. “They really love her and it was good. It was really a community effort. We had a lot of fund raisers and it was a community effort. It was nice to see that at every turn, Flint was there to support us.
“Winning the gold medal was huge. The Olympics is the biggest tournament in the world. We were on the world’s stage and won the top prize, so I feel that was the biggest accomplishment in Flint boxing history.”