Shields dominated the first women’s boxing tournament in London and was again the class of the middleweight division in Rio.
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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Claressa Shields won her second Olympic boxing gold medal Sunday, becoming the first American to win gold in two games. Shields was joined by Uzbek light flyweight Hasanboy Dusmatov, who won the men’s Val Barker one week after completing his impressive run to gold.
United States’ Claressa Maria Shields celebrates after winning her gold medal for the women’s middleweight 75-kg boxing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016. Shields beat Fontijn back in May to win her second consecutive Women’s World Championship. “I was like, ‘Hey, we are here to fight, ‘” Shields said. I put my body through so much hard work. “I really can’t dwell on what I didn’t get”.
Shields had won the first three rounds 10-9, 10-9, 10-9, but the fourth was closer, with two of the three judges giving it to her Dutch opponent even though the American felt she had been in complete control.
“I’m just so happy and I prayed before I came here and I just knew God was with me”.
In an ecstatic on-camera interview after her medal-winning performance, Shields made it clear where she stands on the echelons of boxing greatness. “I don’t think she has the tools to beat me, but I’m sure she went home and worked on a few things, and I worked on a few things as well”.
When everybody thought Shields had become rich, there she was, going to a collection agency to pay her mother’s past-due water bill.
“I made a decision to be great”.
“She believes she is the best in the world”, coach Billy Walsh said. “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know”, Shields, still wrapped in her American flag, said when asked about what she would do next. She performed a cartwheel in the ring, then took a victory lap with the American flag on her back. He won six in Rio, five of them gold to increase his Olympic-record gold total to 23 and his overall total to 28.
When I spoke with Shields later, she admitted that the night before the final, she had a moment of panic. At the Field House, she came under the tutelage of trainer Jason Crutchfield, who first taught her about boxing, then taught her about life.
Shields said she began the fight with a more technical approach to see what Shakimova had for her. While Shields had been stalking Fontijn around the ring in the first round, in the second she changed her footwork – and in one artful sequence, she backpedaled smoothly out of trouble before landing a solid right on Fontijn.
“I’m fighting for my family, I’m fighting for my future, I’m fighting for my city – to give them some hope and faith, because it’s so bad in Flint”, she told ESPN.
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Shields is the first US boxer to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals. “And her power, for a woman, she hurts you every time she hits you”. “We’ll be making some changes after these Games and negotiate with her. I want to see my sister and my little brother”. Fontijn was moving, staying away and attempting to box on the outside, but Shields sized her up and moved forward, throwing overhand rights and left hooks to easily win the opening round.
