Claressa Maria Shields was born on March 17,1995 and is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist.
32 Facts About Claressa Shields
2.
Claressa Shields 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.
3.
Claressa Shields was born and raised in Flint, Michigan, where she was a high school junior in May 2012.
4.
Claressa Shields was introduced to boxing by her father, Bo Shields, who had boxed in underground leagues.
5.
Bo was in prison from the time Claressa Shields was two years old, and released when she was nine.
6.
Bo believed that boxing was a men's sport and refused to allow Claressa Shields to pursue it until she was eleven.
7.
In 2014, Claressa 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.
8.
Claressa 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.
9.
Claressa Shields was awarded the inaugural women's division of the Val Barker Trophy at the competition.
10.
Claressa Shields won her first match, against Franchon Crews-Dezurn, by unanimous decision.
11.
On June 16,2017, Claressa Shields headlined the "Detroit Brawl," facing Sydney LeBlanc in her first scheduled eight-round bout.
12.
Claressa Shields won the bout by decision after all eight rounds.
13.
On June 22,2018, in just her sixth professional fight, Claressa Shields defeated Hanna Gabriel by unanimous decision, winning the vacant WBA and inaugural IBF middleweight belts, breaking the record for becoming a two-weight world champion in the fewest professional fights, a record previously held by Vasyl Lomachenko.
14.
Claressa Shields dropped down from 168 pounds to 160 for the fight.
15.
On December 8,2018, Claressa Shields' fight aired on HBO, her first appearance on the network, a fight which was a part of the last boxing card to occur on HBO.
16.
Claressa Shields faced Femke Herman's outboxing her all 10 rounds for a unanimous decision.
17.
Claressa Shields was scheduled to fight Ivana Habazin for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title in Flint, Michigan, on October 5,2019.
18.
On March 5,2021, Claressa 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.
19.
Claressa Shields 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.
20.
Claressa Shields was initially scheduled to face reigning WBO Middleweight Champion Savannah Marshall in a title unification bout on September 10,2022.
21.
In November 2020, Claressa Shields had signed a three-year contract with Professional Fighters League and was expected to make her mixed martial arts debut in 2021.
22.
Since Claressa Shields first announced that her MMA debut, she has begun training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and has gone to train under IBJJF no gi World Champion Roberto Alencar, alongside Holly Holm.
23.
Claressa Shields started training at JacksonWink MMA in late 2020.
24.
Claressa Shields made her MMA debut at PFL 4 on June 10,2021, against Brittney Elkin.
25.
Claressa Shields won the fight via technical knockout in round three.
26.
Claressa Shields was baptized at age 13 and began attending a local church.
27.
Claressa Shields found strength in her Christian faith and eventually left home.
28.
Claressa 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.
29.
Claressa Shields is an ambassador for gender equality in sports, particularly boxing, which she insists is under-covered by the media.
30.
Claressa Shields is the subject of the 2015 documentary T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold.
31.
Claressa Shields will be acting in the Susan Seidelman-directed film Punch Me.
32.
In 2018, Claressa Shields acted in a Walmart ad directed by Dee Rees.