Claressa Shields’ net worth is only $0.2 million, but things could change rapidly if she wins the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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Claressa Shields stood on the podium on Sunday afternoon with the Olympic gold medal hanging around her neck that she had just won in women’s boxing. With this win, combined with her gold from the 2012 London Games, Shields becomes the first American boxer in history to win consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Women’s boxing was introduced to the Olympics in 2012 and Shields, unbeaten since then, follows Britain’s Nicola Adams – who successfully defended her flyweight title on Saturday – as a double champion.
Kazakhstan’s Dariga Shakimova and China’s Li Qian each won bronze medals for losing in Friday’s semifinals.
Shields has come a long way from her tough childhood in Flint, and boxing has been her salvation. 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.
But Stevenson is expected to turn pro before the end of the summer.
With the win, Shields will become one of the biggest names in boxing. With hands down as if to say, “you couldn’t hit me if you wanted to”, Shields invites her opponent to do her best. She spoke about her suspicions of her mother selling their food stamps to purchase drugs and how unknown men would be in and out of the house, some of whom she said had molested her. The middleweight from Flint, Mich., became the first US boxer to win two golds at the Olympics.
Even still, she’s the favorite to win gold at Rio, and she continues to push for glory, fist over fist.
Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya sloshed his way to the gold medal in the men’s Olympic marathon as Rio de Janeiro began its grand goodbye to the 2016 Games in clammy conditions that did nothing to dampen Brazil’s frenzied mood. And she said there’s a lesson in all that. “But I knew she couldn’t do that”.
“Hopefully, I’m a household name now”, Shields said, “which I don’t doubt!”
While French fiancées Tony Yoka and Estelle Mossely both won gold, and Uzbekistan and Cuba won three each, the USA tally of a gold, silver and bronze represented an improvement on 2012 for the former powerhouse. “I was like, ‘You know what?” “I just enjoy being able to show someone I can outbox them”. “You think you can beat me? I am not going to make any predictions about what I can and cannot run but I’m excited about running more marathons in the future”. You can accomplish anything if you want it badly enough, they say. Since then, she has won three World Championships, which led her to qualify for this year’s Rio Olympics where she has been one of the many Black female athletes slaying on global television showing the world that the power of the Black Women can and never will be suppressed.
Oddly, the boxing ring, where people pummel each other, was always her refuge.
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She did, running her record to 77-1 and her winning streak to 51 fights with a performance she celebrated by running a lap around the boxing ring, a giant American flag trailing her like a kite.
