She dropped down on one knee in thanks and turned a cartwheel in the ring.
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And afterward, it dawned on her.
“I nearly did the Ali shuffle today”.
The final against Fontijn – who defeated China’s Li Qian in the other semifinal – will be a rematch from their bout at the world championships, which Shields won.
“You don’t have to worry about if I’m going to get out there and not let my hands go”, Shields said.
The 21-year-old boxer lived up to her promise.
Claressa Shields beat Nouchka Fontijn of the Netherlands by unanimous decision for her second Olympic gold medal on Sunday.
The reigning world amateur and Pan American Games champion also ran her amateur record to 77-1 and remains unbeaten since winning at the 2012 London Games.
“The Netherlands?” Shields asked. Universal Pictures has bought the rights to make a feature film based on her life story.
And Shields is well on her way to that gold. She has not lost since 2012 and has won the past two world championships.
But she is only 21, and she certainly has time for that.
Shields was inspired to take up boxing at age 11, after learning about Muhammad Ali’s daughter, and finding a heroine in Laila Ali. Who was he telling first and foremost? Claressa Shields’ fight record is simply awesome.
Yoka labelled Joyce a “robot” and said the Englishman was “scared” of him ahead of their bout, but was pushed all the way in the final fight of the Games before he was given the verdict on a split decision. She slipped artfully under Fontijn’s swings, bobbing her head and feinting.
But that might have been because she is so sick and exhausted of the food.
“The separation of my coach, Jason Crutchfield … it taught me to be stronger by myself”, she explained.
Right after the bout, she told NBC her strategy was “just to be smart, use my jab, and land the right hand when I could, and not get touched by those long arms she had, and I did it!” I drank a lot of water and Powerade. She also secured a couple of endorsement deals, including one with Powerade, which she not-so-subtly mentioned a couple of times in her post-fight media session. So she is learning the art and craft of salesmanship, both in the ring and out.
With the win, Shields will become one of the biggest names in boxing.
“We are hopeful. We’ll sit down with her and try to convince her to stay”, USA coach Billy Walsh told Reuters.
“I had went to the University of Michigan-Flint”.
In the second round, Shields realized something. “But I knew she couldn’t do that”. “She isn’t as fast as me, she can’t hit as hard as me, she thinks she can, but she is about to find out real soon that she can’t”. Don’t let barriers hold you back.
And though she had said all along that there was no “if” in her pursuit of a second Olympic gold – victory was certain, she vowed – all she could say in the immediate aftermath was repeat over and over, “I can’t believe it!” “But I still have a few good people around me. That’s how I was able to see things and become the type of person I am”. “This is insane”, Shields said in disbelief.
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“After I won a gold medal [in 2012] and I got home, my gold medal didn’t really mean a lot to the media and, I guess, to the boxing world either”, Shields told the Washington Post.
