Shields became the first woman to win the Val Barker Trophy as the outstanding boxer in an Olympic Games on Sunday.and received the award shortly after beating the Netherlands’ Nouchka Fontijn to defend her London 2012 title.
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On the way to grabbing her second straight Olympic gold medal. She performed a cartwheel in the ring, then took a victory lap with the American flag on her back. That has changed, she said.
Reigning Olympic champion Claressa Shields (Flint, Mich.) is familiar with history making performances and she put on another one in her second gold medal bout on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro.
Shields showed off her two golds. Working her body from the hips up, Shields platforms herself as she taunts the now frustrated Fontijn by slipping a barrage of continuous flurries as if she were playing a game of dodge ball.
“It is a great feeling to be Olympic champion, I’m so happy with the result”. “I have loved racing in it, both at the trials and here”.
“I have been through a lot in my life”, said Shields, who combines a punishing punch with an infectious spirit.
That belief was forged in Flint when Shields fought incalculable odds to emerge from her bleak surroundings. “I want to go home”.
And to anyone who questioned her place in women’s golf.
“Because I remember that when I was once one of those kids I didn’t have any hope and when I got just a little bit, look how far I’ve been able to come”, added Shields. Her father was in prison for most of her childhood, and she had no bed and often no food at home.
“A lot of girls are here just to beat me. To be of the caliber of fighter that she is she’s had to persevere, she’s had to train hard, and she’s had to never give up to get to where she’s at”.
“Even if you come from somewhere good and you got bad parents, or you go through bad things in life”.
Claressa Shields won by unanimous decision on the final day of the Olympics.
Shields and the rest of the Olympic boxing team will return to the United States tomorrow. Motivated by the anger she felt as a child and survivor of sexual assault, she told ESPN that she “channeled all the anger from that into boxing, and I think that’s why I’m so successful at it”. Shield stayed on task by cutting off the ring, shifting and pivoting as she made her way to Fontijn landing body shots and random combinations at will.
Now, five months after her 21st birthday, she is the only USA boxer to win two Olympic titles in the modern era.
Fazliddin Gaibnazarov defeated Lorenzo Sotomayor of Azerbaijan in the light welterweight final to become the third boxer from Uzbekistan to win gold in the games.
At one point against Shakimova, Shields lowered her hands, daring her to throw a punch. “I definitely think I’m tougher than majority”.
The first round was tough, with the 5-foot-11 Fontijn keeping Shields at distance with her long arms.
“I wanted to let everyone know that I’m not just a great female boxer but I’m one of the greatest boxers to ever live”, an overjoyed Shields said after the bout, ESPN reports.
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“We’re going to try everything we can to hold on to her”, said the Irishman. She fired right hand-left hook combinations throughout the fight, of which she controlled virtually every moment.
