8 things you didn’t know about Flint native and pro boxer Claressa Shields

This fierce Michigander is a fighter in every sense of the word.

Claressa Shields has fought her way to becoming a champion since she was a young teen. 

While the road wasn’t easy, today the Flint native is considered the most decorated woman in boxing history and is often referred to as the ”Greatest Woman of All Time”—or GWOAT, for short.

Read on to learn more about this knockout Michigander.

She’s a Pisces.

Claressa Shields via social media platform X.

Claressa Shields was born on March 17, 1995, in Flint. 

In astrology, Pisces are known for their adaptability and flexibility. These traits may explain how Shields was able to navigate difficult situations throughout her childhood. 

Her father was an amateur boxer. 

Claressa’s father, Clarence “Bo Bo” Shields, was an accomplished amateur boxer in Flint. His career was cut short, however, when he had to serve a seven-year prison sentence when Claressa was a toddler.

After he was released from prison, Shields spent a lot of time catching up with her father. 

“One day he would just tell me how he wished that he would’ve never gone to prison, ‘cause he would’ve done what he loved. He felt that if he would’ve stuck to [boxing], he probably would have been able to get a fight,” Shields said in an interview with People. 

“At that moment, I decided that I would box for my dad, so he can live some of his life through me.”

She started boxing at 11 years old. 

Inspired by her father and famous women boxers like Laila Ali, Shields began boxing at Flint’s Berston Field House when she was only 11 years old. There she met her coach and trainer Jason Crutchfield, an accomplished boxer in his own right. 

In 2009—when Shields was 13—it was announced that women would be able to compete in boxing at the 2012 London Olympics. Although she’d only been boxing for two years, Crutchfield predicted she’d be there—and that she’d win gold. 

Her nickname is “T-Rex.”

“Back when I was younger, I was very skinny and I had short arms, but I used to always be swinging,” said Shields in an ESPN interview. 

Despite what other kids had to say about her, Shields didn’t let it get her down. Instead, she took the nickname that they had given her—”T-Rex”—and used it as a source of power. 

She’s made Olympic history (twice). 

The United States’ Claressa Shields, in red, celebrates after winning her fight against Russia’s Nadezda Torlopova, in blue, during the women’s middleweight 75-kg boxing gold medal match at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, in London. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Under Crutchfield’s training, Shields became a Junior Olympic champion and competed in the US Olympic Trials to qualify for the 2012 Summer Games in London.

That summer, a 17-year-old Shields defeated Russia’s Nadeza Torlopova in the middleweight gold medal fight—becoming the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. 

Shields’ road to the 2012 Olympics was the focus of the award-winning documentary, “T-Rex: Her Fight For Gold”, which debuted in 2016.

The same year, Shields secured her second Olympic gold medal at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. This win made her the first American boxer (male or female) ever to win gold in back-to-back Olympic Games.   

Related: 5 Michigan women who made history

She uses her platform to bring attention to pay inequality in women’s sports. 

Did you know that the average playing salary for a male athlete is 21 times more than that of female athletes?

While the income of 82% of women in professional sports comes from commercial partnerships, reports show that 90% of sponsorship dollars go toward male athletes. 

It’s something Shields has been vocal about since she started her professional boxing career in 2019.

“You know, you think that every Olympic gold medalist, you win a gold medal, you get all this money and endorsements. And I got nothing but my gold medal,” Shields said in a PBS News interview. 

Claressa Shields poses on the scale during a weigh-in Friday, Nov. 18, 2016, in Las Vegas. AP Photo/John Locher.

She has a street in Flint named after her. 

In 2021, the Flint City Council unanimously approved a resolution that would authorize an honorary street sign in Shields’ name on Spencer Street. 

As a young girl, Shields lived with her grandmother, who resided on Spencer Street, until her grandmother’s death in 2013. Shields’ home gym, Berston Field House, also faces the same street. 

The resolution, brought to council by Mayor Sheldon Neeley, states that Shields “has made a significant contribution to the city of Flint through civic, cultural, and humanitarian efforts.”

On June 19, 2022, during a block party to celebrate their hometown hero, Claressa Shields Street was unveiled.

Shields says she dreams of turning her hometown street into a thriving community hub. In an interview with The Detroit News, Shields said she’s inspired by boxers like Sugar Ray Robinson, who owned two entire blocks in Harlem throughout the 1940s and 1950s and was home to a barbershop, night club, insurance agency, laundromat, and the headquarters for the fighter’s business ventures. 

“I would love to do something like that,” Shields said. “I’m buying a lot here, buying a house here. I mean, why not dream big?”

In 2024, Shields purchased the home of her great-grandmother, who also resided on the same block, and the lot where her grandmother’s house once stood. 

Her story was the inspiration for the movie, “The Fire Inside.” 

(L-R) Director Rachel Morrison, actress/singer Ryan Destiny, pro-boxer Claressa Shields, Jason Crutchfield and actor Brian Tyree Henry attend the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon MGM Studios’ “The Fire Inside” at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) in Los Angeles, California, on December 4, 2024. (Photo by LISA O’CONNOR / AFP) (Photo by LISA O’CONNOR/AFP via Getty Images)

Claressa Shields’ journey to becoming the most decorated woman in boxing history sounds like the stuff that movies are made of—and now it actually is. 

Written by Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) and directed by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison (“Black Panther”), Shields’ biopic—“The Fire Inside”—follows her boxing journey as a teenager and reminds viewers that gold medals don’t always mean happy endings, but that perseverance makes champions. 

Actress Ryan Destiny trained for months with a boxing coach in order to physically transform into her role as the Olympic heavy-hitter. 

“[My trainer] was incredible and treated me like a fighter and not an actor. I think that really put me in the mindset more of an actual boxer in understanding the craft and the sport,” said Destiny in a NBC News interview. 

Shield also told NBC News that she was impressed by Destiny’s portrayal.

“I’m happy she understood the calling and understood her role and who she was in the film,” Shields said. “I’m happy that she was able to include that confidence, show that grit.”

After releasing in theaters on Dec. 24, 2024, “The Fire Inside” has received rave reviews nationwide.