Claressa Shields has said boxing is the only thing that ever loved her back. This uniquely personal connection to the sport became the foundation of the 29-year-old boxer’s rise to world champion.
“You put in the hard work, you win. You slack off, you lose. So when I say boxing is the only thing that loved me back, I put in so much heart into boxing and guess what I did? I won. I keep winning because it loves me how I love it,” Shields says.
Shields’ rise in boxing is showcased in the sports biopic The Fire Inside, now in theaters. The movie is Rachel Morrison’s directorial debut and stars Ryan Destiny as Shields and Brian Tyree Henry as her boxing coach, Jason Crutchfield.
The Fire Inside follows the in-ring ascent of Shields, who overcame a tumultuous upbringing in Flint, Michigan, to win two Olympic gold medals in boxing and become a professional star. With all of her success, Shields has embraced her identity as boxing’s self-named GWOAT, or “Greatest Woman of All Time.”
But as the new movie is expected to show, her path to becoming a champion wasn’t easy, and, at times, neither was staying at the top.
Boxing helped Shields escape her family life
Born on March 17, 1995, Shields started competing in boxing around age 11. She was introduced to the sport by her father, Clarence “Bo Bo” Shields—a former amateur fighter himself.
For young Claressa, the ring provided an escape from her volatile childhood. Her father served a seven-year prison sentence for a breaking-and-entering conviction when she was a toddler, so the two didn’t meet until she was 9.
Shields was raised in part by her mother Marcella Adams, who battled alcohol and drug addiction. Their family lived in poverty; according to The Washington Post, Shields often skipped meals so her younger siblings could eat. She also slept on the floor of her home because she didn’t have a bed.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Shields alleged she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend at age 5 and molested at age 8. Her mother didn’t believe the accusations, and Shields was sent to live with her grandmother. “I felt abandoned at a young age,” Shields said. “That’s where most of my anger came from, I guess. How does your mom not believe you?”
Bullied in school for her appearance, Shields found a creative outlet through writing and, eventually, boxing. Determined to show that girls belonged in the sport, she began training with Jason Crutchfield at Flint’s Berston Field House complex. And Crutchfield became a surrogate father outside the ring; Shields lived with his family for two years following the death of her grandmother.
By this time, Shields had proven she had a bright future and championship aspirations in the ring.
Shields has won multiple championships
Under Crutchfield’s training, Shields became a Junior Olympic champion and competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials to qualify for the 2012 Summer Games in London. In her opening bout, she defeated national champion Franchón Crews, which helped clinch her spot at the Games—the first to feature women’s boxing.
That summer, Shields defeated Russia’s Nadezda Torlopova in the middleweight gold medal bout, becoming the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing at just 17 years old. Despite her historic accomplishment, Shields received little recognition and no national endorsements or sponsorships. Shields made only $1,000 per month as part of the U.S. boxing team and used most of it to pay her mother’s bills and help her brother, who was imprisoned at the time, according to NPR.
“Everybody was just saying...you should be signing with Nike. You should be on the Wheaties box. How come—aren’t you in this magazine? Why aren’t you in that magazine?” Shields explained. “And it got to the point where I just kind of shut everybody out and was like I can’t hear that no more.”
Despite a lack of monetary support, Shields continued training, again winning Olympic gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro before turning pro. According to Sports Illustrated, she has won titles across five different weight classes as of July 2024. Her record stands at 15–0 with three knockouts. Shields also began competing in mixed martial arts in 2021 and has two career wins.
Influenced heavily by her own financial struggles following her first Olympics, Shields now uses her platform to bring attention to the pay inequality between men’s and women’s boxing. Though she has personally begun to get paid more for her work—Shields reportedly received more than $1 million in guaranteed pay for a two-fight contract with Sky Sports in 2022—she remains committed to helping her contemporaries earn more lucrative opportunities. “I think people are used to women being told what to do and not doing what they wanna do. It kind of makes them uncomfortable and makes them feel intimidated. That’s my advice to the women. Do you boo,” she told GMA in 2021.
Shields and Crutchfield no longer work together
While The Fire Inside focuses heavily on Shields’ work with Crutchfield and her preparation for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, the pair’s relationship has shifted throughout the years.
According to ESPN, the two mutually agreed to split following the U.S. Nationals in 2014. “At first, I was very heartbroken. He’s like my second father. He always looked at me like I was a kid,” Shields said. “At 18, though, I wanted to have my own car, my own apartment; I wanted to do things for myself. Also, I wanted to have a boyfriend. We could never come to fair grounds about the whole dating thing.”
The pair reportedly came to conflict over finances as well, with Crutchfield—who served as Shields’ de-facto manager—at least partially blamed for her inability to acquire endorsements following the 2012 Olympics.
Despite this, the pair reunited in late 2016 and Crutchfield coached Shields for five of her professional fights. However, they separated again for good in 2018 when Shields decided to move to Florida to train full-time.
Shields has a new trainer, John David Jackson, but reportedly would be open to working with Crutchfield again. “I have no problem with Jason,” she told CBS Sports in December 2024. “Me and him are both just so happy this movie was made because it shows how important I was in his life, how important he was to mine, and how important we both were to the city of Flint, Michigan. It shows how Jason was my coach but it also shows you how he was my dad and he was my best friend.”
Shields wants to box for another decade
Shields is returning home for her next championship fight, and will defend her WBC heavyweight and WBO light heavyweight titles against undefeated challenger Danielle Perkins on February 2, 2025, in Flint.
While Shields is still in her fighting prime, the 29-year-old has started thinking about retirement. In a recent interview, she told former light heavyweight champion Andre Ward she plans to stop competing for championships at age 38.
“I want to get all of my fighting out of me, you know,” she said on The Art of Ward podcast. “People say that I can retire right now, you know, and nobody’s going to accomplish what I’ve accomplished and all that type of stuff. But it’s like, why retire when you’ve still got all this fighting? Why retire when you can still whoop these girls with your eyes closed? Why?”
Shields discussed her interest in major one-time exhibition bouts, or megafights, if the right opponent challenged her, even if that’s after she decides her full-time career is over. One person she’s mentioned interest in fighting is her friend-turned-rival Laila Ali, the daughter of former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali.
Shields said another possibility for her future may be helping the next women’s champion to follow in her footsteps. “It may be like a torch-passing to where, not did I only pass the torch, but she took it,” Shields said. “And now she’s carrying the torch, but women’s boxing don’t die. The flames stay lit.”
See The Fire Inside in Theaters Now
Shields served as an executive producer for The Fire Inside and worked directly with writer and producer Barry Jenkins to create the script.
The pair met in person for roughly five hours to discuss the movie before any writing took place, she told Entertainment Weekly. “I let him speak first about what he thought my story was, and when he got done talking, I said, ‘Well, you had a few key parts, but this is what I want to tell, what I want them to understand about me.’ When he wrote his script a few months later and sent it to me, he got it just right. There was so much strength and resilience,” she explained.
She worked with Destiny to help the actor tackle the movie’s more emotional scenes, including particularly “sensitive” ones involving Shields’ family members. In the end, her performance left Shields awestruck. “I cry every time I watch the movie,” Shields said.
Shields hopes her story resonates with a larger audience, with The Fire Inside now in theaters. The movie stars Ryan Destiny as the champion boxer and Brian Tyree Henry as her coach, Jason Crutchfield.
Tyler Piccotti joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor and is now the News and Culture Editor. He previously worked as a reporter and copy editor for a daily newspaper recognized by the Associated Press Sports Editors. In his current role, he shares the true stories behind your favorite movies and TV shows and profiles rising musicians, actors, and athletes. When he's not working, you can find him at the nearest amusement park or movie theater and cheering on his favorite teams.
