When Claressa Shields stood atop the podium in August in Rio de Janeiro to receive her second consecutive Olympic middleweight gold medal, the 21-year-old from Flint, Michigan flashed a wide smile and pulled out from her pocket the gold medal she had won four years earlier in London.
No other American boxer -- male or female -- has ever defended an Olympic gold medal as Shields had done, and she did it in utterly dominant fashion.
Shields was so good in Rio that she was awarded the women’s Val Barker trophy, emblematic of the most outstanding boxer in the female tournament.
With two Olympic gold medals secured and numerous other gold medals from all the top amateur tournaments in her collection, she faced a decision: Should she return in four years and go for more history of a third consecutive Olympic gold medal, which she would undoubtedly be the favorite to win, or instead try to make a go of things in professional boxing, where the women do not enjoy the kind of attention that the top men do.
Shields decided to leave behind the amateur ranks and she will make her pro debut in a four-round super middleweight bout against amateur rival Franchon Crews, who is also making her pro debut, on the Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward card on Saturday (HBO PPV, 9 p.m. ET) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Shields-Crews is not part of the pay-per-view telecast but can be seen on ESPN3 beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
“When deciding to go pro, I thought about my legacy,” Shields said at her media workout Monday in Las Vegas. “I didn’t want to disappear for four years, and win another gold medal but have people not know my name or what I look like or how I box.
“I’ll have been in camp for seven weeks. I’m excited. I’m ready to take on this new task of being a professional fighter and ultimately, winning a belt. Expect to see a really good fight, a very skilled fight from me, this Saturday. The world is going to see a level of boxing that no woman boxer has ever showed before. I’m a smart fighter. I’m an entertaining fighter. I throw everything well and have great combinations.”
Mark Taffet, Shield’s co-manager and the former HBO Sports senior vice president who ran HBO PPV for many years, said he believes Shields can help popularize women’s boxing.
"Claressa has the potential to do for boxing what Ronda Rousey did for MMA,” Taffet said. “She says she's once-in-a-century, and she may be right.
“On Saturday night while two men stake their claim to the current pound-for-pound title, Claressa Shields begins her quest to become the first woman to be boxing's pound-for-pound king. She truly believes nothing is impossible."
Shields, the dominant force in American women’s amateur boxing, has not lost since 2012 and finished her amateur career 77-1. Along the way she defeated Crews, 29, of Baltimore, a decorated amateur in her own right, including in a 2012 tournament.
“Franchon Crews and I have sparred and boxed before in huge tournaments,” Shields said. “She’s coming into this fight fully prepared and I’ve been training for a KO. In the amateurs, my overall record was 77-1 but I’ve never KO’d anyone. Now, we have smaller gloves, no headgear and I’m way stronger than I’ve ever been. This is a different kind of pro debut. This should actually be a world championship fight between me and Franchon Crews but somehow, she took it for a pro debut.”
Shields hopes the fight Saturday is only the beginning of a fruitful career she can only hope is nearly as successful as her amateur run.
“I love boxing. That’s why I commit my time and body,” Shields said. “I look forward to fighting in front of all the fight fans. I have friends, family, fans from all over flying into Vegas just to see me fight, so hopefully I can pack the house before the main event.”