Club Shay Shay - Claressa Shields Part 1

Summary

Club Shay Shay – Claressa Shields, Part 1 (November 19, 2025)

Host: Shannon Sharpe
Guest: Claressa Shields
Location: Sweet Science Fitness Atlanta Boxing Club, Atlanta, GA

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Episode Overview

This episode of Club Shay Shay features an in-depth, heartfelt conversation between Shannon Sharpe and Claressa Shields, widely considered the “GWOAT”—Greatest Woman of All Time—in boxing. From her trailblazing achievements in the ring to her tumultuous upbringing in Flint, Michigan, Shields shares the adversities that forged her grit, resilience, and championship mindset. The episode covers her family history, struggles with poverty, experiences with bullying and trauma, mental health battles, and the unbreakable bond with her grandmother. Emphasis is placed on Shields’s fighting spirit both inside and outside the ring, her drive for equality in women’s boxing, and her undying loyalty to family.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Boxing Lessons on Air: Breaking Down Technique

• [03:02–10:45] Shields gives Sharpe hands-on lessons in boxing basics—jab, cross, hook, uppercut—demonstrating technique, footwork, and power generation.
• Notable banter as Shields corrects Sharpe’s stance and explains how to “push off that back leg” for a snappy jab.
• Shields stresses the importance of proper technique and shares a playful competitive vibe with Sharpe:
  • “You have more power if you push off that back leg. And then when you throw your right... get that hand up, ‘cause you don’t want to be hittin’ your chin.” —Claressa Shields [06:05]

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2. Early Dreams and Entering Boxing

• [13:16–14:47] Shields’s childhood dreams: 1) become a singer like Aaliyah; 2) be a mother; 3) be a boxer.
• Started boxing at age 11, drawn to the one-on-one nature and the ability for her hard work to directly lead to victory.
• Reveals dislike for team sports where results depend on others:
  • “With boxing, it just made me feel really good. Like I felt very strong. I had got my first bruise there.” —Claressa Shields [14:36]

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3. Growing Up in Flint – Family and Hardship

• [13:54–20:07] Shares details of growing up in a large family, often with absent fathers. Her mom had four kids; her dad had seven.
• Shields was bullied for her speech impediment, clothes, and hair. The hardship and fighting at school (and with her younger sister) led to her discovering boxing.
  • “People just come up... these kids, you know, they’re so mean nowadays. They used to walk up and copy my work, grab my paper, ball it up and throw it away. Now the teacher’s asking me what happened… I got into a lot of fights for that.” —Claressa Shields [18:13]
• Shield’s role as protector started young:
  • “It was my job to protect her [my mom]. So if she gone for a couple days and we don’t know where she at... We get out there on the streets and we go find her.” [38:01]

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4. Speech Impediment, Anger, and Journaling

• [15:52–17:46]
• Shields didn’t talk until age 5, stuttered until 9, and was often misunderstood at school—sometimes leading to fights.
• Her grandmother, Joanne, taught her sign language, got her speech therapy, and instilled patience and self-belief.
  • “My grandma was just like, she was sweet, but she was a no nonsense lady. I feel like I’m a lot like her.” [16:28]
• Journaling became crucial:
  • “If I could write something that I understand and that you can read, I don’t even have to talk to you anyway.” [17:23]

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5. Family Trauma and Healing

• [33:30–36:37]
• Shields discloses being sexually assaulted at age 5—a topic never discussed with her mom until she was 16.
• As a child, she believed her mother chose the abuser over her, causing years of resentment.
  • “I felt that she picked the abuser over me, and I grew up with that image... there was like a deep secret that I was hiding.” —Claressa Shields [34:15/36:36]
• Healing conversation with her mother led to apologies and emotional release:
  • “Me being able to talk about it is what made me feel...” —Claressa Shields [36:36]
  • “It was a weight off my shoulders.” —Claressa Shields [36:37]

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6. Role of Her Grandmother

• [37:43–44:47]
• Joanne, her grandmother, became her safe haven, mentor, and best friend.
• Shields keeps her late grandmother’s memory alive through personal symbols (nickname “Coco” on her shorts, Betty Boop socks) and family traditions.
  • “She let me know back then... that I was worth the trouble.” —Claressa Shields [47:14]
  • “Stand on your word. Finish what you start. Losers never quit and quitters never win.” —Claressa Shields [49:40]

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7. Mental Health and Surviving Depression

• [50:56–55:49]
• Openly discusses two suicide attempts at ages 13 and 16, spurred by compounded family trauma and fear of lost Olympic opportunity.
  • “If I can’t fight my way up out of here, I’m not about to live like this. It’s over with.” —Claressa Shields [51:17]
  • Saving call from her best friend, Aaliyah, led her to pray and persevere.
• Recognizes now that depression's negative self-talk mimics your own voice:
  • “That same voice that was being uplifting and positive now is being negative.” —Claressa Shields [54:07]

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8. Making Olympic History—And Pushing for Fairness

• [64:47–76:07 & 75:07–75:58]
• Youngest American woman to win Olympic gold in boxing at 17 (2012) and repeated at 21 (2016).
  • “I keep my stuff on me. That’s that gold, baby.” —Claressa Shields [64:53]
• Insisted on equal pay for women in USA Boxing, vital for her second Olympic run:
  • “I let them know that I wouldn’t go back unless these things changed. And they were all for it ‘cause they needed me to win that gold medal.” —Claressa Shields [75:13]
• Stresses the importance of USA Boxing in developing tough, skilled fighters—claims America produces the best—while acknowledging challenges for women in big moments.
  • “America has the best fighters. ... As far as skill and everything, I feel like America has the best fighters.” —Claressa Shields [79:39]

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9. Adapting from Amateur to Pro Boxing

• [80:42–82:53]
• Adjusting style for the pro game, with more emphasis on power, less on scoring points.
• Talks about challenges of fighting without headgear and strategy when facing rough or “dirty” opponents.

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10. Navigating Respect, Criticism, and Gender in Sports

• [86:00–89:42]
• Shields addresses criticism about her muscular, athletic physique and how it parallels comments once made about Serena Williams:
  • “I’m built like the bodies that these girls getting and buying. … When I put on a dress, I look just as feminine, just as pretty, just as fine.” —Claressa Shields [86:28]
• Discusses fulfilling weight class requirements and her comfort in her skin, regardless of outside opinions.

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11. Relationships, Family Roles, and Self-Resilience

• [67:00–70:02]
• Despite strict coaches, by high school Shields was already managing relationships on her terms.
• Always put family first, acting as the “big sister-mom,” especially when their own mother struggled with addiction.
  • “I just want everybody to turn out all right. Everybody ain’t gonna be famous.” —Claressa Shields [41:50]
• First among siblings to graduate high school, underscoring her role as a trailblazer.

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12. Dealing with Internet Trolls and Real-life Confrontations

• [61:01–64:37]
• Describes an incident where a persistent online "troll" showed up at Shields’s gym and got “the hands.”
  • “You wanted your ass whooped, and I’m gonna give you just what you want.” —Claressa Shields [61:41]
• Emphasizes the difference between online disrespect and what happens when confronted face-to-face with a professional fighter.

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13. Transgender Athletes in Boxing and Media Narratives

• [83:03–84:49]
• Shields approaches the controversy around Iman Khalif, an Algerian boxer, with facts and empathy, clarifying misconceptions about gender and competition in amateur boxing:
  • “I don’t believe that they will let a male fight against women. … I fight the facts.” —Claressa Shields [83:47, paraphrased]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Overcoming Adversity:
  • “Mentally, I’m tougher than a lot of people... People talk about me inside the ring, but outside the ring, I know that people couldn’t make it through what I made it through.” —Claressa Shields [39:38]
• On Equality in Boxing:
  • “If I’m boxing, if I’m in here putting my life on the line, I’m practicing, I’m in the gym, I’m running... and winning every tournament, why am I getting paid less than the men?” —Claressa Shields [75:13]
• On Family Resilience:
  • “My job has always been to protect her. If she gone for a couple days... We get out there on the streets and we go find her.” —Claressa Shields [38:01]
• On Healing and Her Grandmother:
  • “She let me know that I was worth the trouble.” —Claressa Shields [47:14]
• On Self-Confidence and Criticism:
  • “When I put on a dress, I look just as feminine, just as pretty, just as fine... I’m built like the bodies these girls getting and buying.” —Claressa Shields [86:28]

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Timeline with Timestamps

• Boxing Techniques & Banter: 03:02–10:45
• Early dreams and family: 13:16–14:22
• Speech Impediment & Bullying: 15:52–18:47
• First Fights & Protecting Herself: 18:48–20:07
• Parent Incarceration & Advice for Kids: 24:31–29:13
• Mother’s Addiction & Shield’s Childhood Roles: 30:52–41:24
• Cycle of Trauma & Grandmother’s Impact: 33:30–47:43
• Mental Health, Suicide, and Recovery: 50:56–55:49
• Winning Olympic Gold and Equal Pay: 64:47–76:07
• Adapting Boxing Style for Pros: 80:42–82:53
• Social Media Troll Incident & Attitude: 61:01–64:37
• Body Image & Societal Criticism: 86:00–89:42

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This episode is a compelling blend of sports insight, raw honesty, humor, and inspiration—showcasing Claressa Shields’s unmatched spirit, her perspective on fighting for more than just championships, and how her journey from Flint has shaped an indomitable champion in and out of the ring.

Transcript

[Claressa Shields]

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It's the rage bait.

[Claressa Shields]

It feels like it's trying to divide people.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We got clear facts.

[Claressa Shields]

Maybe we could calm down a little.

[Shannon Sharpe]

NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America Running a.

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[Shannon Sharpe]

First American woman to win Olympic gold medal at 17.

[Claressa Shields]

I keep my stuff on me that's that gold, baby and they heavy that's why I don't wear them yeah, keep them in that purse in that Chanelli all my life been grinding all my life Sacrifice hustle, paid the price wanna.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Slice got to roll a dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life look all my life.

[Claressa Shields]

Been grinding Sacrifice hustle, paid the price.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wanna slice got to roll a dice.

[Claressa Shields]

That'S why all my life I've been grinding all my life.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hello and welcome to another episode of Club Shay Shay. I am your host, Shannon Sharp and we're on the road at Sweet Science Fitness Atlanta Boxing Club, right here in Atlanta, Georgia. The lady that's stopping by for conversation with a drink today is one of the world's best active female boxers. Pound for pound with an undefeated professional record. She holds the 19 major world championships spanning five weight classes. She hold the record becoming a 2, 3, 4, 5 division world champion in the fewest professional fights. She's the first and only fastest boxer in history to hold four major world titles in boxing in three weight classes. She's the first ever undisputed woman's heavyweight champion. She's the most watched woman's professional boxer in history. She's the first American to win Olympic gold medal. She was 17 years of age and she won back to back gold medals. She was inducted into the USA Boxing Alumni association hall of Fame. Her gloves were enshrined into the International Boxing hall of Fame. From Flint street to global fame, here she is, the quote, the greatest of all time, coacher Shields. Larry Holmes used the jab. He was trying to do damage. Yeah, a lot of people use the jab as a, as a range finder. Klitschko. It was a range finder because he's trying to drop the right hand. So he was.

[Claressa Shields]

Boom.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's what he's trying to do. Larry Holmes. Boom.

[Claressa Shields]

That's me. That's my jab right there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, so. So you tried, you tried power jab? Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

Snappy, powerful.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So I'm pushing almost or am I.

[Claressa Shields]

So we gonna bend your legs on. There you go. And put some of the weight on your back.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right foot. Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

Back leg. Cause what you're gonna do when you push off, you wanna make sure that your waist stay in the middle of here. So when you push off, you going forward, but you still just take a little step so you can back up some. Cause you're real tall.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

So get your stance together again. Let me see. Put your arm out there. Yeah. So when you take your step, you're going to hit the bag. You're going to take a short step. Probably about right there. Go. That's a good jab. So you pushing off.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So the power. You see, I said like I hit a drum in it. Hey, they gonna feel it though. See, I'm just waiting.

[Claressa Shields]

So that's one of the ones that like. That's like a flicker.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

If you push off your back leg the way that you really want to push off and really get it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

Ah, that is gonna. It's gonna stick em.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

You know what I'm saying? Like make them say what's up.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay. So probably. Boom. Use all that grip, use all that power. That power.

[Claressa Shields]

You have more power if you push off that back leg. And then when you throw your right. So when you got this hand here, get that hand up. Cause you don't want to hitting your chin. Getting that?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, you right. Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

So you gonna pull this shoulder back. Switch positions and put that shoulder in front. That's where the power comes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

Right there. But keep that foot down. You're not moving this foot up front when you throw it. When you go 1, 2. Push it there because you're pushing off both. So 1, 2. Switch positions on them shoulders. Let's go.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So knee legs, huh?

[Claressa Shields]

One. Pull it back. Yes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, okay.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. I know you're gonna feel that power.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah. No, I don't want to feel it. I want them to feel it.

[Claressa Shields]

Well, you gonna feel it when you throw it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

Make sure your jab is up here.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

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Where your.

[Claressa Shields]

Where your head is at.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

One. Boom. Boom. Almost. Try again. Go. That was more stronger that was. Let's go again. One more time. Your jab a little soft. Boom. Boom. That's.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You said it ain't stop yet. It ain't stop moving yet. Whoever's over that jab. Fish, you see that? You see the bag still moving? 30 seconds or both.

[Claressa Shields]

You definitely shaking it up? Yeah, yeah. So now that we got that jab. We got that right. We going to get our hook we going to pull this shoulder back now and make a L with this hand. A L, uppercase L. Yeah, there you go. All right, so let's try it again. 1, 2, 3. And make sure that when you twist back on that hook, twist it go from here. So we got twerking, the hip and the shoulder.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Throw my back out.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. Watch yourself. All right, let's go. Keep that foot down. You moved it. Keep that foot right where it said.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, it's supposed to be. Oh, so I just pivot with it?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, you can pivot, but leave it where it says.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I don't pick it up.

[Claressa Shields]

You don't pick it up? Don't pick it up. Okay, back up some. Let's go. Ah, ah, ah. Twist.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I need some wraps. Throwing that hook, babe.

[Claressa Shields]

Hey, the hook is. Is a real sneaky punch. Yeah, everybody worry about that jab. That right hand with it. That hook.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, on the uppercut.

[Claressa Shields]

Oh, oh, oh, the uppercut is coming.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cuz that's the one you don't see. See, sometimes you can.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway)]

You.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You can catch that hook coming at me, right?

[Claressa Shields]

Cuz it's up top. But this one coming from under. Touch it right on that button right there. Yeah, you sweating already.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, you see that, babe?

[Claressa Shields]

You sweating already. So last four is we're gonna have that jab step with it. We'll have that two you're gonna put that three on. Then the uppercut dance. See everything that'll be on top. One, two, three. But the uppercut, you're making a U here. So it's coming from here, here. If you want to go to the body, bend your legs, you're gonna go to the head and bring it right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So jab.

[Claressa Shields]

But keep your 10 now. Okay, when you throw that uppercut, you don't want to come here.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh.

[Claressa Shields]

And thought it every cut, you're gonna just twist it so that. So put that hook up front. Put that hook up front. Boom. Now when you twist here, Boom. Make this uppercut. And you're gonna hit on the four and up is right there. That's your uppercut.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Man, I hurt my wrist throwing the hook.

[Claressa Shields]

Oh, you put that. You put that twerk on it?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, I did, cuz. Keep your fist close.

[Claressa Shields]

Keep your fist closed. Yeah, make sure you don't have them open.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I did. That's what happened.

[Claressa Shields]

Okay, well. Well, I don't be hurting my hand. I only hurt my hand whenever my hand is open or it's not. Like when you close it all the way. It shouldn't hurt.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, I Think what it did is that I'm have to. I'm have throw a soft.

[Claressa Shields]

1, 2, 3, 4. Keep that chin down. He done threw like seven punches. 1, 2, 3, 4. But bring that uppercut right here. So right there in the middle of the body.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I'm trying to hit him on his chair.

[Claressa Shields]

Clarissa, are you going to the head?

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Lego or Retail Ads)]

Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

Oh, well, he's still bringing it up. Just don't bring it over here.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

The head is where your head is at, right? Because you line them up. 1, 2, 3. Uppercut here. There we go. Perfect. That's actually pretty good. That's pretty good. They really not ready. For shame. They ready. They're really not ready for us. Her name ready. Hey, I can't get you and call me and I'm coming.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's what I need. Hey, how did Clarissa handle that?

[Claressa Shields]

Hey, he told me to do it. He gonna bail me out too. I'm coming.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn.

[Claressa Shields]

It's, it's, it's, it's. No, no, that was good. You want. You want any more?

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, I don't want no more.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Odoo Business Software)]

Okay.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That what you need to be asking them. Do they want some more? Dog, Dog.

[Claressa Shields]

We good?

[Shannon Sharpe]

What we got? What you got?

[Claressa Shields]

Oh, what I got for you? I got you a Clarissa Shields. Whoa. Hat. And I couldn't figure out your size, but this is a 2x.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I fit a 2 days and I.

[Claressa Shields]

Don'T know if you wear matching. You know, but he got the pants to it. To the side.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, to the side. I don't know about the pants, Clarissa, but I deact.

[Claressa Shields]

I know. You know what I'm saying?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't know. I don't know. I think. Are these. Are these women 2x or they men 2x?

[Claressa Shields]

They unisex. But you know what? You got a football body, so they might not, but I don't know. You have to try them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I think. I don't know what y' all think. Y' all think I'm going to be. Y' all think I'm going to be able to do this?

[Claressa Shields]

I think he picked the hoodie.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I think I picked the hoodie.

[Claressa Shields]

I don't know about the arms, though. Man, you huge, bro. He's humongous.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hold on, hold on. I thought we'll get to this. We'll talk about this in the ring. I'm ready. I'm ready. This episode is brought to you by Prize Picks. The hard hitting football action is getting even better with Prize Picks. The weather might be changing, but the feeling of being right never gets old. So keep the season rolling on prize picks. So by getting $50 instantly in lineups when you play your first $5, we are in the thick of football season, and some of y' all might be feeling down. But don't worry. That's why we have prize picks to keep you going for the rest of the season. Week 11 of football was something Josh Allen 6. Six total touchdowns, three passing, three rushing. More, more, more on prize picks all day, baby. Prize picks is the only app that offers stacks, meaning you can pick the same player up to three times in the same lineup. Want to pick more on Josh Allen? Pass yards, rush yards, touchdowns. Now you can pick all three of them in the same lineup only on prize picks. Prize picks is simple to play. Just pick more or less on at least two player stats. If you get your picks right, you could cash in. Download the prize pick app today. Use code Shannon to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code SHANNON to get $50 in lineups AFTER you play your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It's good to be right? Clarissa, you born in Flint, grew up in Flint. As a little girl. Growing up, what did Clarissa want to be?

[Claressa Shields]

My first dream was to be a singer, like Aaliyah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

My second dream was to be a mom. My third dream was to be a boxer.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You've always wanted to be a boxer?

[Claressa Shields]

Yes. Well, those were, like, the dreams in order. Before I started boxing, I wanted to be a singer, and I wanted to be a mom.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mom.

[Claressa Shields]

But at a young age, I started boxing when I was 11 years old. So I think at the age 9 or 8, people are asking me, like, what do you want to be? And I remember saying, like, I wanted to be a mom, and I wanted to have 10 kids. That was like, a big thing that my family used to laugh at me about. Still laugh about to this day.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You come from a big family?

[Claressa Shields]

Well, my mom has four of us, and then my dad has, like, seven.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you come from a fairly large family. So growing up. So what was it about boxing that drew you to this sport?

[Claressa Shields]

Me versus you, one on one. That's it. You know, I had played basketball, I played soccer, I ran track, cross country. I was doing everything. But it was like, I hate it when they would say, oh, we got a team trophy. But it was second place. Like, I would win a race.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

But we would still get second place because all the points tallied up and this other team got more.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

You know, and then basketball, they don't want to pass you the ball. And then, you know, girls get rough with you, you get rough with them back. But I guess I'm too rough.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

And then I really enjoy cross country, but I mean, running five miles, three and a half miles all the time, like, who want to do that?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Claressa Shields]

And it just seemed like with boxing, it just made me feel really good. Like I felt very strong. I had got my first bruise there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you grew up liking the fight?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. I liken knowing that you said you could beat me up and you said you was better than me. But if I get in the gym and I work hard and me and you fight, I beat you. I liked it being like, there's nothing you can say about me beating you up because that's literally like what happened. Like, there's no people, like, say, oh, I got robbed this and that. But it was like I get in the ring and dominate everybody. So it's like you saying, you can beat me. And I say, okay, let's do it. And it's woman versus woman. Or a lot of times growing up, it was me versus a man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's what I'm saying. But in boxing, okay, I understand points. If you knock somebody out, okay, obviously you win. But in a street fight, that's a whole different thing. So you grew up fight, you grew up fighting little girls and little boys?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, up in street fighting, yeah. Yeah. That's how I initially got into boxing. But I started getting into fights at school because I was being bullied. I was never the person to start the fights. I was actually scared to fight when I was younger.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Anabe Sofas or Tide)]

Oh.

[Claressa Shields]

So my anger drove me to fight after being picked on for a very long time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right. I read that you had like a speech impediment. You didn't talk until you was 5. You stuttered until you were 9. So how was, how were you communicating? If you're non verbal, you didn't really speak until you was five years of age. How do you communicate?

[Claressa Shields]

I used to just cry. My mom used to scream at me, like, say what you want. If you're hungry, say you're hungry. You want to go outside? Say what you want to go outside. And I used to just start crying. I think it took for me to get taken in by my grandmother Joanne, who really, who really took her time with me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Who understood you?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, who understood me. Taught me a little bit of sign language because they thought I was deaf, but I wasn't. I just didn't want to talk.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

And did you know you could speak.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So when you were by yourself, okay. In front of your parents or with your siblings, you didn't say anything. But when you were alone, did you speak? Did you hear your own voice? Did you speak and say anything?

[Claressa Shields]

I was able to think, but as far as in getting it out, it used to take a lot. So my grandma was very patient with me. She put me in a speech impediment class in school, an anger management class also. But my grandma was just like, she was sweet, but she was a no nonsense lady. I feel like I'm a lot like her.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right. Because the thing is, I had a cousin that stuttered bad. And my grandfather used to always tell him, and not in the nicest way.

[Claressa Shields]

Slow down, start over, slow down, start over, think it.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway)]

Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

Then say it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

So I had to get in the like, you know when you're emotions, right. You just feel them and you want to get it out. But it was like you have to feel, think, then talk.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And the more upset you get, the faster you want to speak and the more you stutter and the worse it get.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. Cause then you just be sensing, they'd be like, what are you talking about? So for me, I had to get in the concept of that. But when I found journaling to me, it was like, if I could write something that I understand and that you can read, I don't even have to talk to you anyway. Exactly, exactly.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So did the kids make fun of you when you had a. Would you talk in front of kids? That once you started communicating at the age of nine, would you talk in front of kids? Is that something that they made fun of you about? Because I had a speech impediment and I go to speech class and I sounded normal. To me.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Because to my ear I'm like, okay, bro, what is it? Why is it that you guys. What are you saying? I'm saying the same thing that you would say. But I didn't get it right.

[Claressa Shields]

No. So for me, that's why I got into a lot of fights. People making fun of me, stuttering people making fun of me, how I used to talk and how fast I used to talk. Because my mom talks really fast. So it just was a thing of. I started getting into fights for that reason. People picking on me about my hair, about my clothes. Cause I didn't grow up with the best clothes, you know, and stuff like that. So that's what made me start. Start fighting to just. I think the first fight I got into, I beat somebody up pretty bad. And I Just remember after that, they wanted to be cool. Like, they left me alone, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You're like, okay, I kind of like, oh, if I whip your tail, you gonna leave me alone? And the word will get around. Don't bother Clarissa.

[Claressa Shields]

Don't mess with. Listen, the boys knew not to mess with Clarissa. The girls knew nothing. Mess with Clarissa. Like, it was a thing. Like, leave her alone. Because for some reason, I guess when you're quiet, you become like a victim to people, and they feel like they can mess with you. So for me, you know, I say to myself, but people just come up. Well, these kids, you know, they're so mean nowadays. They used to walk up and copy my work, grab my paper, ball it up, and throw it away. Now the teacher's asking me what happened. I'm trying to explain it. And then this other kid can speak better than me, saying that I'm lying. I'm like, no, I did my work. She took my work and bought it up and threw it in the trash. So after going through that for a while, I think my first fight was when I seen somebody bullying my little sister. Who can talk, right? And my sister's beating me up. When I was younger, so when I seen somebody.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She younger than you, she beat you up?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, my sister used to beat me up. Brianna used to beat me up. Yep.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you fell back. So they taking your homework.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They're copying your homework, taking it, then balling my ball of your homework, throw it in the trash. So now when it come time to turn the homework in, you ain't got no homework. They got homework.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You trying to explain the situation. And the teacher's like, yeah, this is a situation where the dog ate your homework. I get it.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

Well, she's believing the other kid because they're getting it out, and I'm stuttering like. And I'm like, you don't know what I just said. Like, she took my stuff, copied it, bought it up, and threw. And it seemed like that used to aggravate me. So I got. I think I threw a chair at a kid before. Not a teacher.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn. Listen, you had anger issues.

[Claressa Shields]

Listen, I had really bad anger issues when I was a kid. It took a while, I think probably like 16, 15. I finally was like, okay, I got control of this, right? Yeah, it took a while.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You mentioned your dad was imprisoned.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway)]

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[Claressa Shields]

I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Lego or Retail Ads)]

It's the rage bait.

[Claressa Shields]

It feels like it's trying to divide people. We got clear facts. Maybe we could calm down a little bit.

[Shannon Sharpe]

NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. You say you didn't see him for the first time until he was nine. Till you were nine years of age, yeah. Did you understand, did you know why he went to prison? And did you understand that him being incarcerated limited your ability to see him?

[Claressa Shields]

Um, so growing up where I grew up at, nobody really had a dad. So it's like you don't miss out on something that don't nobody else have either.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right, Right.

[Claressa Shields]

So it was like the community. Like we all just had our moms, you know, and you can't miss something that you never had. So my dad went to prison when I was 2, got out when I was 9. And when I met him, I mean, honestly, meeting him gave me a whole new perspective of who I was. Like, my dad laughed really loud and I used to wonder like, why is my laugh so loud? You know, why am I so, you know, stern and mean? And my dad is the same way. Like, I think I get a lot of my attitude from my dad and I get my sassiness and my fast twitch from mom.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you know who he was when you saw him?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, I had seen pictures of him for a long time and we look alike, so I had seen pictures of him and when I met him and he just was. He started talking when my dad first saw when I was 9. Well, he saw me when I was 2. But when he saw me again when he got out, he just started crying and smiling real big. And he had braids, he had cornrows to the back and they threw like a big old welcome home party. Welcome home party for him. And when my dad see me and my sister, he just started crying and he hugged both of us. And that was probably the first time that I really, like, let a grown man hug me. Cause I was more of like, don't nobody touch me, you know? But my dad came home hugging me and giving me kisses all the time. He's made me kiss my lips. I'd be like, ugh, I don't want to kiss your lips. And then I think one day I bumped my face up. When I kissed him, he said, why you do that? I said, dad, you. That's like cigarettes. Like, just. Can we kiss on the forehead or something? He was like, yeah. So now whenever I see my dad, he see me, we kiss on the forehead, we don't kiss on the lips no more.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did kids make fun of you about your child, about your dad being in prison? Was that something? Did anybody know? Did anybody know your dad was in prison?

[Claressa Shields]

Nobody cared because nobody had their dad.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

We all was in school. We talked about our moms. You know what I'm saying? Like, our mom gonna pick us up. Mom gonna. Parent teacher conferences, you know, it was our mom that was involved in our lives. So nobody. Like, just. Like I was saying, like, how can you miss out on something that you never had?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

Now that I have my dad. When my dad did get in my life, I did wanna spend more time with him and be around with him more. And, you know, my dad taught me how to run, to get in shape for boxing. You know, he'd take me. He'd be on his bike or in his car, and every other block, he'll have me sprint. He just had his whistle that was so loud and annoying. And when he blew the whistle, that's when you sprint.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hit it.

[Claressa Shields]

That's when you sprint. So my dad would tell me, I ran two miles, but really I ran four. And my dad was like, that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He tricked you to run it farther than what you thought you was going. Let me ask you a question. I mean, you and I think people that go through things, they're the best people to give advice. So what advice would you give young kids dealing with a situation that they have a parent incarcerated and to deal with that, that they're not gonna be around. They don't know if it's gonna be a year, two years, five years. Like you said, it was seven years in between two years old and not nine years old. And dealing with your dad. How would you advise kids to move forward? Obviously, each situation is different.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What was some of the advice that you would impart on some younger generation? This young generation?

[Claressa Shields]

For me, I don't Think that any of us can control our childhood? Cause we're kids, you know. But I think that long as kids understand that you make the decisions for your life, whatever. Like, I think the younger you start, the better. So if you want to be a dentist, a doctor, a scientist, whatever, nurse, you can start that at a very young age. And I don't mean, like start having a job, but I mean, like, start making those choices that will get you there, knowing that when it gets to a certain age, nobody controls your life anyway, right? I mean, I moved out when I was about 13 and I was living with my boxing coach. So that was a decision that I made because I'm like, you know, the Olympics is in four years, so I gotta start getting ready for the Olympics. So I always tell, like, my advice is know that it doesn't matter who your parents are or where you come from. Your life is about your decisions, right? And I, and I grew up poor. So me always believing in, believing in God and getting baptized. But Jeremiah 29:11, you know, for I got another plans I have for you. Plans to give you hope and plans to prosper and have a great future. And so that's how I thought about, like, right now, things may be going bad, but it will get better. So I always tell kids, like, listen, whatever you want to be, your life is your life. No matter your situation or your circumstances. You can have crackhead parents, you know, parents who abuse alcohol, drugs, whatever. But how you decide to make your life is on you. And when it turns out good, you can say you made the right decisions. You know, that would be my advice now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know, your aunt gets sentimental around the holidays. Every year, my family got one tradition. We crowd in Granny's kitchen. Everybody's talking loud, laughing, playing spades, trying to out cook each other. And you know what? I've got pictures to prove it. In Granny's sweet potato pie. My nephew wearing that same ugly sweater every year. That's good stuff right there. And you know what if I told you you can relive those moments every single day? That's what Aurora frames can do. These digital frames bring your favorite memories to life right there in your living room. You just download Aurora app, connect to WI Fi and boom, unlimited free photos and videos. And the best part, you can keep adding new ones from everywhere, anytime. It's like sending love straight to someone's wall. So if you're thinking about the perfect gift this season, start early. The way you got time to curate it, add those photos, maybe even start a new Tradition. This year, for a limited time, visit auroraframes.com and get $45 off Aurora's best selling carbon matte frames named number one by Wirecutter by using the promo code Shay Shay at checkout. That's auroraframes.com promo code shayshay. This exclusive Black Friday Cyber Monday deal is the best of the year. So order now before it ends. Support the show by telling them Club Shay Shay sent you. Your mom, you mentioned your mom, your mom had a drinking problem. Battle addiction. What was that like? I mean. Cause like little girls, a lot of times little girls want to be just like their mom. They, you know, hair. That ain't what you said. You said your life really turned around when you went and lived with your grandmother.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Was that your maternal grandmother? That was your mom's mom.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. Yeah, my mom. Uh huh.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So can you contrast the differences between. Your mom is normal, she's not intoxicated or she's not under the influence, as opposed to her just walking around being normal?

[Claressa Shields]

Well, my mom is a lot like me, but she's way more quiet. My mom don't hug people. She's really quiet. She don't say much. She just kind of observes everything. And she's very sassy. She's very sassy. Okay. And sometimes she can be a pushover, you know, Sometimes. What's with her friends and people that's close to her, she can push over. But when she get, when she get that liquor in there, she Mike Tyson.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Odoo Business Software)]

What?

[Claressa Shields]

I'm telling you the truth. Listen, my mama will knock you aside your head quicker than you can. Hey, listen, if you did something to her when she was sober, when she used to drink, she'll let you know. And it could be a month ago, two months ago, you been forgot it even happened. Maybe she called you, you ain't answered the phone. Maybe you did something to her. And I'm telling you, she gonna remind you when she get that stuff in her. And if you around, she gonna go upside your head. She go upside your head with that cane she got. Listen, my mama will hit you. She ran up, ran over me one time with that cane. I said, mama, chill. You know, but my mom, but that's the difference though. Like when she's. When she used to drink, she used to get real, real aggressive, real mean. And she can. And my mom can really fight like she. She can.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you get it from your mama for real though, huh?

[Claressa Shields]

My mom and my dad used to underground street fight. But my mama, she like, I don't Know, it's like she starts the fights, kind of like my little sister, you know, like, they. They be starting the fights, and I'd be like, what's wrong with y', all, man? Right. But that's the difference. So my mom, you know, it took for, I think, when I turned 17 and I won the Olympics, my mom completely stopped drinking. You know, she stopped drinking. She became more like. Now she like to hug me sometimes, all that stuff, but she never was like that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Claressa Shields]

When I won the Olympics, I feel like it made her feel like.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She's a proud of you, huh? Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. She did something good. And I want her to know that she did do something good and that I turned out to be all right, even though my childhood wasn't all that great.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Have you ever had a conversation with your mom about what transpired in your childhood and what went on? You had a conversation with her? So what did she say? Did she apologize like, Clarissa, I'm sorry. I know I did the best I could. I might have not been the best mom, but I just want you to know that I loved you and I'm proud of you.

[Claressa Shields]

Well, when I was five and I had got, you know, the R word.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

You know, families don't talk about that stuff for a long time. So when it happened to me when I was 5, we didn't talk about it until I was 16, almost 17. So when we talked about it, me growing up as a kid and being taken in by my grandmother and living with my grandmother most of my childhood after being five, what. What I knew and what I felt, I guess was like. And was it inaccurate or was it emotionally flawed? I don't know. But I felt that she picked the abuser over me, and I grew up with that image.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You really resentment towards your mom?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, for a long time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you tell her?

[Claressa Shields]

Well, I told my aunt, and my aunt told my grandma. That's how I got taken by my grandma. But from my knowledge, I thought that I had to move with my grandma because my mom chose him. That was what I.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's what you interpreted it as?

[Claressa Shields]

Yes, because, you know, they say keep kids out of grown folks business. So I'm just with my grandma. So I go from being around four or five kids every day. My brothers and my sisters are now with my grandma and just me and her. You know how it is with grandma.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, Grandma straight grandma.

[Claressa Shields]

Don't Grandma just cook and you watch movies and you don't go outside much? And grandma is. You know, she's Grandma?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Claressa Shields]

You know, and so that was how I interpreted it. So when it finally got, when I was like 16, I'm doing all these interviews, getting ready for the Olympics. I just beat the world champion, Mary Spencer. There's a lot going on. And they kept asking me, like, you know, who are you? How's your upbringing? And I just was like, listen, I had a rough upbringing, but that's all over now. I'm about to win the Olympics. But for some people interviewing you, like, that's not enough, Right? So they kept digging.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They really wanted the key.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. So they kept digging and digging. And I was like, I don't want to tell anybody about what happened to me because one, I don't wanna make my mom look bad. But then. But then two, if my. In my mind, if my mom, you know, didn't believe me or took his side, then what I'm gonna look like telling the world that. And they don't take my side, you know, or they don't understand or believe me. So I spoke with my mom about it, and, you know, she let me know. She, like, she told me she broke up with that guy after a year. After it happened. She couldn't believe it. She never chose him over me. I moved with my grandma because he threatened to kill me. That's how I moved my grandma. So my grandma, like I said, she was very stern and she ain't gonna play with you. So my grandma took me in just to keep him from harming me. And also, too, he got beat up by a lot of my cousins. He got jumped on. He got. I heard he got pistol whipped. A whole bunch of stuff happened to him. So it was a thing of like, all this grown folk stuff is going on in me as a kid, I didn't know. So when I turned 16, my mama told me. And yes, she apologized. You know, she apologized, let me know that she loved me, that it was okay to talk about it and get it out. And me being able to talk about it is what made me feel.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Feel like a weight of. Lifted off my shoulders.

[Claressa Shields]

It was a weight off my shoulders. It really was, because it was like a deep secret that I was hiding. And I just remember kind of like, I don't know if I was blaming myself or what, but it was like, dang, I always felt like, you know, like I wasn't good enough to be with my siblings, to be with my mom. But I'm grateful for my grandmother because she, I mean, taught me how to clean up, you know, shower, keep your clothes together, fold your Clothes. Hang your clothes up. Told me how to cook. You know, like my grandma.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You already told me you wanted 10 kids. So she like, when you want 10.

[Claressa Shields]

Kids, you gotta sing, you gotta sing. My grandma wanted me to sing. My grandma used to always give me mic sets for Christmas. And try to make me sing and stuff. But I was always shy. Cause I would sing in front of her. But when it came, like, you know, like, when the family come together.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Family come together. Like, Carissa, get up there and sing.

[Claressa Shields]

Nah, I ain't doing that. My grandma used to be like, coco. I said sing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm like, oh, so that was your nickname? Coco.

[Claressa Shields]

Coco. That's why I wear it on my shorts.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

On my shorts. Yep.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I think I read where you said that your mom would get intoxicated sometimes. And you would walk around for days looking for her.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. We have to go get her. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I mean, you a child, Clarissa. I mean, do you really, like. Did you realize at the time I'm a child. That this wasn't normal? And I understand that you said most kids in Flint didn't have their father. But most kids in Flint probably wasn't walking around the neighborhood trying to find their mom either.

[Claressa Shields]

Well, it's me and my sister. And I'm the second oldest out of my siblings. So I have a big brother who's four years older than me. But I'm like his big sister, too. He called me his little big sister.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

So I've always kind of, like, been the oldest. So when it comes to our mom, my job has always been to protect her. So if she gone for a couple days and we don't know where she at. And we don't know about her safety. We not gonna call the police and stuff. We get out there on the streets and we go find her. And it was always a thing of. See, my sister spent more time with mom than me. So I would tell her, think of your memory, what houses y' all went to and what streets. Because Flint ain't that big, right? Flint. 10 minutes north, 10 minutes south, 10 minutes east, 10 minutes. So you can walk around the whole. Flint. Probably within four hours. Just walking around and hit the whole. And hit the whole thing. So that's just how we used to go get him. And when we go get her, everybody knew, like, I was real mean. I was real mean. Like, I was real mean. I was rough and I would fight you. So people knew, like, hey, she here to get. Yeah, I'm here to get. I'm here to get my mama. And I go in there, I get her and we'd go home and. And like I say, you know, but she was grown, she was always good. But it was more of a thing like it was my job, you know, I mean, sadly, it was my job and I wouldn't choose anybody else. But my mama, like my mama was. She's a great, she's a great person. You know, she just dealt with something that she couldn't, she couldn't defeat at the time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That. Do you think that's one of the reasons why you're as resilient as you are, is because of the things that you had to overcome in your own childhood?

[Claressa Shields]

Absolutely. That's why I have a no back down attitude. I don't take disrespect. I know that mentally I'm tougher than a lot of people. I know heart the heart that I got. Other people don't got it in them that they couldn't survive. People talk about me inside the ring, but outside the ring, I know that you guys, people couldn't make it through what I made it through. And then when they come inside the ring and then that carries. I got a no quit attitude. I'm very tough. I'm very skilled. I'm mean in there and I don't take no for an answer. I don't back down. So I know that with all of that together combined with hard work and prayer, that that's why I'm undefeated and unbeatable.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Growing up, did you cook as a child, did you learn that? Or did you once you got older and had to cook? Because, you know, I read that your mom used to sell to fuel her addiction that she would sell the food stamps. So now that makes you did your research, that makes it very, very difficult for you to get food because you're reliant on that assistance. And now, man, what are we gonna eat? And you have to make something out of nothing.

[Claressa Shields]

Listen, when we didn't have food stamps, I wasn't really that good at cooking back then. I probably hadn't had an idea from watching my grandma, but me and my sister, my brother used to split a pack of ramen noodles. We break it down in four pieces, we'll cook it. And that's how we used to do it. I used to go without eating, eating a whole lot to make sure that they ate. Wow. So that was it. But like I said, I'm the big sister though, so it's not a thing of. I kind of felt like once again, like that's my job. Like, I just moved my little sister to Atlanta. Her and her three kids, what, two weeks ago. She has an apartment five minutes from me now. Like, it's. I don't know. It's not. It's not my job to take care of them, but it's my job to make sure that everybody is good, if that makes sense.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's normally the oldest daughter. She normally takes on the mother's role. My mom is the oldest, and so when my grandmother, she. My grandmother would go to the fields with my grandfather. It was my mom's job to raise the other kids. You took that on. Okay, my mom's not here now. I gotta be the mom. I've gotta make sure they're dressed, get them ready for school. I've gotta make sure. I gotta. I've gotta find out.

[Claressa Shields]

I just want everybody to turn out all right. You know what I'm saying? Everybody ain't gonna be famous.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How did you.

[Claressa Shields]

How.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How did. Where did that come from?

[Claressa Shields]

I mean, I just. I just love my siblings and. And they love me. Before I had anything, I think me and my sister are the complete opposite. But it's needed. It's needed. You know, I'm like sunlight, and she like darkness, you know? But. But I think that, you know, before my fights, if my sister don't call me or she not in the back room, I don't really feel like the beast that I am. Like, she seemed the beast before the makeup and the hair.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

And I always like for her to remind me of that. And sometimes she in the back room, she like, hey, if you don't whoop her ass, I'm whooping your ass. I'm like, all right, even though you can't beat me up no more, but it still sound good, you know, so.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So let me ask you a question. Like, when you were, like, hungry, did you eat a lot at school? Cause, I mean, the school lunches, we definitely relied.

[Claressa Shields]

We definitely relied on the school school lunch. And listen, I have friends. I'd be like, hey, man, let me borrow a dollar. I'll pay you back.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Never.

[Claressa Shields]

And some of my friends still be like, you know, you owe me $1.25. When I bought some pizza, I'd be like, I really don't remember.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Your grandmother passed away. Do you remember where you were when you got the news that your grandmother had passed? And I can just imagine. Cause I know I had my grandmother for 43 years, and I still remember it to this day. Like, it was yesterday when my sister called and said, shannon Grant is gone. So what? Because the woman that gave you basically everything but life, she took you in when you was at your most vulnerable, when you were at your lowest. And she helped you become the woman that we see sitting here today talking to me.

[Claressa Shields]

Um, you gonna. I can't think about. You know, my grandma was my best friend.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway)]

Mm.

[Claressa Shields]

And when she passed, it really. It really hurt my heart. You know, I really wanted to go with her, you know? Cause I was just like, I gotta be stuck here with the rest of this stupid family. And she was the best one to me. Um, I wear Coco on my shorts for her. I wear the Betty Boop socks. I try to carry her memory and, you know, hold myself to it to a. To a high standard, you know, but my grandma was.

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[Claressa Shields]

I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Lego or Retail Ads)]

It's the rage bait.

[Claressa Shields]

It feels like it's trying to divide people. We got clear facts. Maybe we could calm down a little.

[Shannon Sharpe]

NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the Facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News, reporting for America.

[Claressa Shields]

She was everything to me. And I. Where was I at when she passed? I had just seen her two weeks prior and I knew she was about to pass.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She had cancer, correct?

[Claressa Shields]

She fought cancer like four times, had overcame it. Then they kept coming back. And this time, I guess it took over her. It took over everything, basically. And I just remember I seen her two weeks before she passed and she was like, you know, she was. My granny was really, really, really funny and sarcastic. But she told me, she said, coco, when I. When I die, make sure they bury me, you know, bury me, you know, face down. And I was like, what? She like, yeah, so everybody can kiss my ass. I mean, I was, I think I cried that day when she was telling me that. But I remember when she said it, I started laughing and she was like, for real, Coco, she said at my funeral, listen, don't be letting everybody come up and Kiss a hug on me. She said, you know, I ain't like people. Like, I don't like these people. I said, grandma, you got. Stop. You're not going nowhere. And then. But she passed probably two years before I won the Olympics. But she knew I was going. She knew I was getting prepared for it. She kept my robe hanging outside her house. I had a gold robe that said T. Rex on it. And, you know, just. I never really mourned my grandma passing until a few years ago. Cause it was too hard to deal with. But her birthday's coming up. November 5th, 6th. And she passed away December 21st. So November 5th, I think November 5th or 6th, one of them days, we gonna celebrate her birthday. I always had a family come. We gonna do a big. Gonna do a big dinner. And then on her day that she went to meet the Lord, December 21, we let off balloons, and everybody say, what's their best memory of her? And we all got some funny memories with Grandma, so. And I can say that I was a favorite, you know, My grandma loved me. And she let me know back then, you know, that I was. That I was worth the trouble. You know, she let me know that even though I was different, that she was always talking about equal rights and equal pay for women. This is when I first got into boxing. And I really didn't understand why she was preaching it so much to me, but she was always on it, and it kind of prepared me for when I turned pro, for the inequality that we have to go through and all the fights and the challenges that I had to overcome. I feel like she Mentally, like, she prepared me. Cause the stuff that she was saying, I kind of was, like, jotting down in my head as notes, so. And it really helped me and the amateurs to get equal pay for the women who was on the Olympic team. So it really helped them. But it's just something that she kind of instilled in me, like, instilled in me on. Stand on your word. Finish what you start. Losers never quit and quitters never win. Like, my grandma stuck a lot in me. You know, she just was, like, always, hey, try to talk it out. But if you. But if you can't lay them out, hey, if you can't talk it out, lay them out. And I was. And I'm a true believer in that. I think that I try to squash a whole lot of beef with people, and it's like, you know what? Me, you just got to fight. This ain't gonna work.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We can't get along. We're gonna get it on, get it on.

[Claressa Shields]

Let's go.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Clarissa, you've overcome a lot. I mean, in backdrop and researching you and reading your story, you tried to commit suicide twice at 13. And at 16, what was going on so bad in your life that you say, you know what? It's better if I go someplace else than have to deal with what I'm dealing with here?

[Claressa Shields]

You know what? I think that at 13, I was just angry, you know, kind of confused about, like, why am I, a kid, having to go through all of this stuff? You know? But I think at 16, when I. When I tried to do it, it was simply because, heck, I thought my chance to go to the Olympics was over. It wasn't because I. I was still undefeated. But I think two. Two or three weeks before this big tournament to fight my way to the Olympics, my mom, you know, being intoxicated, a door fell and hit me right on the eye like a corner, a failure. Like, it was off the hinges, and it fell. It made my eye real big. I couldn't see out of it. And this turnaround was up in three weeks, and this was my only chance to make it to the Olympics. So that's when I was like, if. If I can't go to the. If I can't fight my way up out of here, and I got to stay here because this. This didn't happen. You know, I. I would rather just, you know, just go. And I was. I was going. I was gonna cut my wrist, and I was in the closet, and I called one of my friends. Well, I was. I made a post on Facebook or something, and one of my close friends, Aaliyah, called me, and she was like, whatever you're thinking about doing, don't do it. She's my best friend. She still isn't my best friend now. And I was in my closet, and she was, like, going, well, I was sitting down. She was like, go in the closet, going, go and pray. She's like, what are you doing? I'm like, listen, I got this knife. I'm like, I'm tired of being here. Like, if I can't fight my way up out of here, I'm not about to live like this. It's over with. And she was like, go in your closet and pray. And she spoke to me on the phone for hours. And I fell asleep in the closet. Woke up. I still close, still big as hell. And I just remember my mom being. She was sober now, she came, you know, and asked me what happened to my eye. And I was like, you did it. The door hit me in the face when you was acting crazy or whatever. And then I just remember from there. And then my coach came and he was like, we're gonna have to ice this. You may not be able to go to the tournament, blah, blah, blah. And I believe the first. I think my eyes stopped being black maybe a day before that tournament started or the day of. But it was like I still went and fought five days back to back to back and fought my way to the Olympics. And that's all I really wanted to do. You know, at 16.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't think looking at it and people that go through, obviously when people decide to take their own life is because they're in a lot of pain. But I don't think they realize the pain that they're in. Imagine that. The pain that you do to the people that's left behind.

[Claressa Shields]

No, absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Because they're asking questions, what is it? What was going on so bad? And now for the rest of their lives, they're asking these questions and they're having to deal with the pain that you thought that you couldn't overcome.

[Claressa Shields]

I think that, too. When I was that young, I felt like I didn't know what depression was. You know, we all know what sadness is and when we're mad, but we don't know what depression is. And, you know, depression is when you're having them suicidal thoughts, them bad thoughts, you know, them. Like, for me, when I went through depression, it was like, I. I'm always a big advocate for myself and always speaking positive and up and uplifting. And then it's like, when you get depressed, that same voice that was being uplifting and that was being positive now is being negative. Now it's being. And then it's. And then it's your voice. And that's what was hard for me to deal with. But once I, like I said, figured out, listen, you know, things every day. Every day is not going to be a sunny day, right? But that doesn't mean that it's like mud either, you know, So I had to differentiate that and then just know that, listen, it gets better. I mean, I always tell myself when. When I'm going through something, I'm like, there's somebody going through something worse. I always tell myself that. And people, when they come in with their problem, I say, you know what? It's somebody doing worse than you. And they think I'm being sarcastic. I'm like, I'm for real. It's my doing way worse than You. I've seen somebody. I've seen somebody sleeping under a bridge with, with a, with a cover with like dirty clothes on. At least you in somebody house and you able to lay down and get, and you know, get some food. They out there sleeping on concrete and asking people, strangers for money. It's people. There's always someone doing worse than you. And I always try to tell myself that when I. When I feel like things are getting hard and I tell people that who come to me complaining about things being hard.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You go to the Olympics. Okay. Obviously the swelling goes down your eyes, it's okay. And you go to the Olympics and you said you had to fight five consecutive days and you won and you make your way to the Olympics. I'm going to the Olympics. Lifelong dream. It's a culmination. But I just don't want to go. I want to bring that gold medal back.

[Claressa Shields]

Absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So now you switch it. Like, okay, I got to do. I gotta do this. So now what's your mindset?

[Claressa Shields]

I mean, it was no other option for me. I don't think I would have lived flying home with a silver or a bronze medal. I don't think I could have made.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It or no medal.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, I don't think I would have been able to. Cause it was my dream since I was 13 years old to go to the Olympics. So now that it's finally here, I'm at the Olympics, I'm like, yo, this is, eh. It was really surreal. And all I remember thinking is, everyone around me, even close on the USA team was doubting me because of my age. But I had the best skills, I had the most power, and I was the most determined, and I was one of the hardest workers. And I was like, I'm going to win this gold medal. And having my coach, Jason Crutchfield with.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Me, man, you know, you couldn't lose to be there.

[Claressa Shields]

Okay, listen, it's impossible. It was impossible then and it's impossible now. He comes to my fights now I make sure that he got tickets and stuff. But Jason, when I tell you he like a mad scientist with boxing. And not only that, he was a mad scientist with me. He knows how my brain works. He knows what to say, when to say it. He knows how to communicate with me even if I can't hear, if I can't see, if listen, they keep me holding up, covering my eye. Cause I can't see. And they be like, how many fingers you got up? And he'll figure out a way to make me say two even Though I don't see nothing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's right.

[Claressa Shields]

Like, he just is a mad scientist. And, I mean, the way that he trained me, the belief that we had in each other, really made my first Olympic run. I mean, it was hard, don't get me wrong. But we dominated, you know, And I always say we, because I don't think I could have done it without him. And before my grandmother passed, she told me, she said, whatever you do, you keep on listening to that Jason. She always told me that you always listening to him. Even though when I was having a bad time or I was in a bad mood, she say, mm, whatever Jason say, that's what you do. Always listen to Jason. My grandma was a big. She was a big advocate of him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you. You lost the amateur. But that was before the Olympics or after the Olympics?

[Claressa Shields]

Before.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Mm. That was in China. Where were you?

[Claressa Shields]

China. She hung out China.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But he didn't go then?

[Claressa Shields]

Nope. He couldn't make it for financial purposes. He had no money.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But let me ask you a question. Had he been there, do you believe you lose that fight?

[Claressa Shields]

No, I don't believe I would have lost because we wouldn't have done our homework. We wouldn't know how tall she was. We wouldn't know who was the judges. He made sure he did his homework all the time. And we always had a game plan. You know, he never let me get comfortable. He was like, yeah, yeah, this fight was good, but next fight, you gotta fix xyz. You know, so. But you know what? Even though I feel like I didn't lose that fight against her and the amateurs, I feel like it was needed. I never asked God to be undefeated and to win a gold medal, you got to be very specific with your prayers. I asked God that. I said, listen, I want to. I want a chance to fight for an Olympic gold medal. I didn't say I wanted to be undefeated or unscathed or anything. I just said I want to fight for it, for the gold medal. So this was a tournament before the Olympic gold medal, and I feel like. Well, before the Olympics. So I feel like had I not lost, then I would have lost at the Olympics. So it was like, I can take that defeat because it built a different. It built a different fire in me. Like, it wasn't even just toward her, you know, like towards Savannah. It was like, I literally want to bite off all y' all heads. Like, I want to get so in shape and I want to get so strong that even when we get to the Olympics, that if the ref don't stop the fight. I knock you out or I beat you so bad to where you quit. Like, I got in really great shape for the Olympics, and I lost that fight. Three weeks. Three months before the Olympics. And I mean, for three months, I ran six miles one day, four miles the next, six miles the next day, four miles the next. Six, four, six, four. Went to the gym twice a day, sparred four or five times a week like I was a dog. And that's what that loss happened again. Yeah, I'm like, this has never happened again. That's why now I still train like a dog now. It's like I'm always feeling like. Train. Like I'm the underdog. Like. Like I don't. Like I. Like I have everything to fight for and nothing to lose. Like, that's how I. That's how I train, you know? But that happened then I was like, you know what? It made me a better fighter, and it made me just want to hurt people more, which is part of my job.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Seems like you take the most pleasure out of that part right there.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. Yeah. People need to get hitting. They face Shannon. They hit in their face. Man, people be talking too much. Listen, listen.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They be selling the fight, Clarissa. They don't really mean what they be selling.

[Claressa Shields]

No, no, no.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They be selling. They gotta sell it.

[Claressa Shields]

Mike Tyson said everybody got a game plan till they get hit in the mouth. And you know what? A lot of these Internet folks that be on the Internet doing this stuff, they wouldn't be doing that if we can reach through that phone and just give them a. Yeah, give them a good old.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Do you be wanting to tell some of the people on the Internet, say, glove up?

[Claressa Shields]

I do, but, you know, I have, though. I have, you know, Troll put up on me one time. She got the hands.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Odoo Business Software)]

Hold on.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You be. Come on, Carissa.

[Claressa Shields]

Nah, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Nah, I ain't on the.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Odoo Business Software)]

Come on.

[Claressa Shields]

Nah, don't. No, I don't. Listen, first of all, the gym is a sanctuary.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's you. That's your home.

[Claressa Shields]

So while I'm training and getting ready, it's best you keep the Internet beef on the Internet. Don't ever come to where I'm at, where I'm getting ready for a real world championship fight, fighting for millions of dollars. You want to come and pull up on me, talking that trash to me face to face? Oh, no. You wanted your ass whooped, and I'm gonna give you just what you want.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That woman ain't had no skills, though.

[Claressa Shields]

She said she was a boxer. She said she could be in a fight.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm an astronaut.

[Claressa Shields]

But you know what? No. This girl had been trolling me for two years now. You know when somebody trolls you so much that you recognize their face?

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Odoo Business Software)]

Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

That was a situation like that. It wasn't just no random.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So when she pulled up at the gym, you knew exactly who she was.

[Claressa Shields]

I said, what the. What the hell is. What the hell going on with me here? I thought I got set up. I said, man, wait a minute. What's going on? And then I seen her. I said. I walked right up to her. I said, what the hell you doing here? She was like, I told you, I'm gonna give you that work. I'm coming out. She like. She said, I'm here to knock you out. Let's go. I said, what?

[Shannon Sharpe]

In my mind, secretly, you said, yes.

[Claressa Shields]

No, in my mind, I was like, what? But I told her off the jump, I wasn't gonna spar with her. I said, man, I'm not sparring you, man. Get out. You know? Get out. My gym, I'm finna train. I got. And it was a sparring day. I had two dudes there waiting for me to. I had six rounds in one and three with the other one. I'm like, man, I ain't got. I'm not about to spar you gone. I'm about to spar these dudes. And she was like, got the. Being disrespectful, cussing me out. I started cussing her out and get the ring. Before I knew it, I just was like, well, glove on up. Then I said, I ain't got nothing else to say. Glove on up. She gloved up. I gloved up. Fight over in 30 seconds.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You knocked out.

[Claressa Shields]

I beat the hell out of her. She quit. She quit. I hit her with a big shot. She went down. No, she was, like, covering up. I hit her with a big body shot, and I hit her in the head again. Then she, like, started doing something. I don't know if she was, like, taking a knee or what, but she stopped fighting back. And you know me as a fighter. We don't fight folks who don't fight back. Now, did I want to grab her and do some more stuff to her? Yes. But the sportsmanship and the classiness in me said, let me let this girl go ahead and live and get her up out of here. Yeah. But you know what? I would love to do that to a bunch of girls that was talking trash, though. I mean, if they ever wanna come to the gym and Spar with me. I get in there with them just to make them be like you, disrespectful. You need to get in your mouth. You need to get in your mouth.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Lord have mercy. I can't believe you.

[Claressa Shields]

I can. I believe it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I know you do, Shannon.

[Claressa Shields]

We live in a world today. Too many folks is okay with being disrespectful. Too many folks.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, they are.

[Claressa Shields]

And I'm in a sport that where, listen, you talk it, then you walk it. That's what opponents do. I don't even want to talk trash back and forth with you. We ain't gonna fight. It don't even make sense. That's why a lot of the Internet beef, I'd be like, you know what? Let me go ahead and just sit this one out. Because she's not gonna fight me. She's gonna get on here every day, make subliminals, make posts, talk trash.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She ain't really trying to see me.

[Claressa Shields]

Nah, she ain't trying to see me. Because when I take this jacket off these traps and everything about big as yours, letting you know that right now. You see my shoulders.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I see.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. You win the first American woman to win Olympic gold medal at 17.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, I brought it, too. I keep my stuff on me. That's that gold, baby. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

This is the first one.

[Claressa Shields]

Uh huh.

[Shannon Sharpe]

This was in London in 2012.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And then you go back to follow it up in Rio in 2016.

[Claressa Shields]

That's Rio. Yeah. And they heavy. That's why I don't wear them. Yeah. Keep them in that purse in that Chanelli.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So did you. When you get back, did you go back? So you go back to school and you a gold medalist?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, in the 12th grade. Mm.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You were in high school? So you.

[Claressa Shields]

I mean, I was popular.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You were popular?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, I was popular.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All the guys want to holler at you then, didn't they? They wanted to holler at you, said, nah, nah, nah.

[Claressa Shields]

They've been trying to holler before. The makeup and a hair. They been trying to holler get at you like that. Karissa, listen.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, so Coco. Oh, so. So that's why your brother Coco had him hot.

[Claressa Shields]

Coco was hot, you know, but no, I was always too, like, I was like, up in. Up in school. I was the jock. I was in honors classes. I, like, I was a smart kid. I was famous. I had a documentary crew following me around, so it was more of a. Everybody knew me, and I was still at the time. I was still at the time. Only thing I was confident about was boxing. So I spoke highly about boxing, how I knock people out, beat them up. But I wasn't into the whole.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The glam, the real clothes.

[Claressa Shields]

The glam, yeah, Because I was in a gym full of guys. And all we cared about is who got around the track faster, who sweated the most, who hit the butt back harder, and who won in sparring. That's what we cared about. We didn't. Nobody was like, oh, Rhett, you didn't have your lashes done today. Or rest. You got, you know, like, oh, you're sweaty and like your hair's in the Afro. Nobody. Nobody cared. I mean, they had seen me look that looked that same way from the time I was 11 till I was 17. I mean, I went to Olympics and wore the Queen Latifah Cleo braids to the back. Like, I wasn't trying to be no glam model. I was just trying to. Trying to fight and win. That's all that really mattered to me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But your coach wouldn't allow you to have a boyfriend.

[Claressa Shields]

No.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You wanted a boyfriend.

[Claressa Shields]

I had a boyfriend.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, how you pull that off without him knowing?

[Claressa Shields]

Well, lying, duh. Well, I think of my biopic, the boyfriend I had, we had been together since I was 15, 16, so I was probably about 22, 21.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn, that was a long time.

[Claressa Shields]

I was a relationship type person.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I mean, hey, he was with you when you was.

[Claressa Shields]

I mean, yeah, but you know how these young boys is.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Y' all the same age, but you.

[Claressa Shields]

Know how these young boys is. Oh, and like I said, I was very stern. I don't play none of that. And I'm all. And I'm always too like a girl. Like, if it's ever. If it's. If it's ever a thing between me and another woman, I'm gonna always tell you to go with the other woman. Yeah, because the fact you thought about that. You thought about me with another woman in your mind, you thought about, oh, who should I pick? Please don't pick me because I'm a doggie. Yeah, I'm a dog. You just. Oh. Oh, you think you like me and her? You wanna flirt with me and her? You wanna lie to both of us. Oh, yeah, I'm a dog. You.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, come on, don't be like that.

[Claressa Shields]

Nuh. Gotta give it to em how they want it. But that's why it was like, I'm more of a. I can't be. No, I found out early on that I can't be a pimp. Like, I can't Be like a girl to have multiple guys and date them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You a one guy woman.

[Claressa Shields]

That's it. I don't wanna have multiple men. And I don't want multiple men having me and having somebody else. Like, no.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause you gonna feel some type of.

[Claressa Shields]

Way, oh, no, I'm gonna get rid of you. I don't play that. Oh Lord, it's me or look, it's me or nothing. Okay, so you like me. We together and we making this work. If you wanna go out and cheat and stuff, I'm like, we don't gotta be exclusive because I'm turning down all type people.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah. Cause they try to get at Coco too. Now I just want you to know.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, you know, I could have the.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Roster too, but I chose you.

[Claressa Shields]

But. Exactly. So that's why I'd be like. Back then I was like, nah, this ain't, this ain't that. So he was there at the beginning.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But he just did, he tried to come back.

[Claressa Shields]

I ain't gonna put his business out there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, he tried to come back. He gotta come back. He gotta come back.

[Claressa Shields]

But you know what? I don't think that no guy who I've ever been with has not. I've always broken up with them. I've never got broken up with. I've always broken up with them. So I feel like no guy I've ever been with has ever been like, oh, I tried to get back with them or they want to get back with me. Like they always tried to. So, I mean, but I don't, I don't blame them. I'm fine as hell. Fine as hell. Popping, you know, thick, you know what I'm saying? Natural, you know, I don't blame them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Are you the first person in your family to graduate high school?

[Claressa Shields]

No. My mom graduated, my grandmother. Out of my siblings, I'm the first out of my siblings. And my little brother got his ged. He's the youngest.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

And I believe my older brother got his GED when he was in prison. Cause he did, he did a bit too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So, I mean, you're the first, I mean, think about it. You're the first of your siblings to get a high school. And you mentioned the others are going back and get a ged, but that was not something that you said. You're the second oldest. That's not something that you're thinking about. At the time, you had a singular focus. The Olympics.

[Claressa Shields]

The Olympics. Uh huh.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And school is just a part of the, you know, I got, okay, I'm here, I'm gonna go get my high school, my high school diploma. But the main goal, your main focus. And you say you aren't a student. So seemingly school came easy to you.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, except for, what was it? Science. I never understood science.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

But everything else came pretty easy. Listen, I would get all A's and B's and get like a D in science. A C in science. Like I think the highest I got on a GPA, I got a three point, I got a B one time. So I got a three point, 3.8. And I was trying to get a 4.0 this specific market period. Cause I just like this is the. I'm get it, I'm gonna get it. And I got a 3.8 because I got a freaking B in science. So I just was like, yeah, science sucks.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It ain't for me.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, no.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You mentioned earlier that you fought your grandmother, you know, you fought for equal pay. Hell, I'm doing equal. I'm boxing. We boxing the same amount. I'm boxing, I'm in here putting, you know, putting my life on the line. I'm practicing, I'm in the gym, I'm running.

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[Claressa Shields]

I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Lego or Retail Ads)]

It's the rage bait.

[Claressa Shields]

It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the Facts. Let's meet at the move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. Up early in the morning and in 2016, the men used to get three times the pay. The Olympic. The training committee. Correct.

[Claressa Shields]

With 2012. Yeah, I think they used to get twice more than what we got. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you like nah, this ain't right.

[Claressa Shields]

Well, I was winning every tournament so that didn't make sense to me. Yeah, and you don't really know what the other guys are making until you Ask them. So when I found that out, I just was like, huh. So going back for my second Olympic gold medal, I let them know that I wouldn't go back unless these things changed. And they were all for it because they knew. They kind of needed me to win a gold medal.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

You know, I don't think USA Boxing has had a Olympic gold medalist before me since 2008, which was Andre Ward. Or was it 4? 2004 Andre Ward. I mean, well, we had some bronze medalists, some silvers.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. We known for gold.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, Yeah. I got 2012 and 2016. I'm the only gold for those years.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right. And you know, USA Boxing, we used to be the bees knees.

[Claressa Shields]

Listen, I think. I think Shakur Stevenson should be an Olympic gold medalist. I was there. I seen the fight. He went against the Cuban, and I think Shakur is a better fighter than a Cuban, but he came out with the silver. But in my mind, Shakur is like, vom dot com. Like, this dude can really fight. He's in shape, he's focused, and he was just young. But I felt that he won the fight. I feel like he won the fight, but it was so close.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

You know, But I felt like Shakur won it and he should not. If anything, even though he got the silver, in my mind, he's an Olympic.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Champion, but we've seen him robbed, too. Roy Jones just got his medal back from the 88.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, I saw that. That was. That was crazy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But that was crazy. I mean, I remember watching that fight. Mary. Roy beat that man.

[Claressa Shields]

No, he did. Which is like.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He wasn't even close, though.

[Claressa Shields]

I don't.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But it was in Seoul and he happened to be.

[Claressa Shields]

Was that Seoul, Korea?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes. Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

Wow, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

But, you know, stuff like that, I just can't believe it. Even with Mayweather, you know what I'm saying? Getting the Browns.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But that was in the US that was in Atlanta.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, in Atlanta. But that's what I'm saying. Like, for me, people don't even understand, like, how terrified I was. I had just, to me, got robbed right before the Olympics. And now I'm going to the Olympics and I'm like, oh, God, these girls is taller, they bigger, they more known. Like, what am I gonna do?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. And they're older.

[Claressa Shields]

You're 17. Yeah. I think you ain't fighting.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, you ain't fighting no more teenagers than women. 20s in the 20s, and you fighting them 20s, 30s.

[Claressa Shields]

A girl I fought against for the Olympic gold medal, 2012, she was 30.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I was 17, theoretically. She old enough to be your mom.

[Claressa Shields]

Really? Yeah. But she was strong, though. That's when I was like, ooh, these older women got some strength on them. I'm like, she got the old woman strength. Hey, you know, when they grab you, she like, hold up. She was strong.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what you gain? Okay, you go in there, you fighting the lady that's double your age. Your coach is. So what was your game plan in the gold medal? You're like, okay, I've gotten through all. This is for the gold medal. This is everything. This is everything that I prayed for. This is everything that I've hoped for. And this moment is here now. So were you calm? Were you relaxed? So give me your thought process of leading to that gold medal match.

[Claressa Shields]

I was very focused, I was calm and I was ready. I knew that the girl I was fighting against had hammer fists, she could punch. But I also knew too, I was fast as lightning. I knew I had really good head movement. And I knew that if I got in the right distance and range with her, I would be more stronger than her, than her against me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

So I went in there and just. Coach told me to have fun. He said, have fun and beat her up. I went there and I had fun and I. And I beat her up. But I remember the first, the first round she caught me with a shot and I remember, oh, that's it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

But she had been putting girls down at the Olympics. She had been dropping them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

Getting eight counts on them. And then she hit me and I kind of. I shook my head a little bit. I'm like, ooh, it's good. Then I was like, oh, yeah, she wanna fight. She thinks she just big like that. And I said, okay. But the way that her punches were coming so slow, you could see em. By the time she threw two punches, I already had landed with four, six. So I'm like, I'm just gonna light her up and then sit on some. And when I started sitting on them, it was over. Yeah. 17. But man, I'm telling you, like, that girl was strong. I wonder what she doing now. Torlopova.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what country you think have the best fighters?

[Claressa Shields]

America.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Really?

[Claressa Shields]

America has the best fighters.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Even women?

[Claressa Shields]

America.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Claressa Shields]

Now if we talking about a lot of these American girls, sometime they don't show up on those big scenes in those big moments. Yeah, you know, when you got the world championships in the Olympics, these girls won't show up, but they'll turn pro and become world champions. You know, I think America has girls who Are tough, slick, great upbringing, and we have a great USA boxing program to help us get. Get prepared to win, to win these tournaments. I think that the other girls in other countries, they just. I don't know, maybe they're used to those bigger moments or something. But I feel like as far as in skill and everything, I feel like America has the best fighters. And then I have to say, second is the UK and we all know Katie Taylor from Ireland, you know, but the UK and Ireland kind of, you know, but yeah, I get us my top three.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But, you know, the thing is, is.

[Claressa Shields]

That.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Amateur boxing, Olympic boxing, is different than pro boxing.

[Claressa Shields]

Way different.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And so you. I mean. Cause you see, like, some of these guys that, like, didn't have great amateur background become world champ, and you see some Olympic champions don't do nothing in pro.

[Claressa Shields]

Well, I think that all comes with. Are you a complete fighter?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

You know what I'm saying? I knew in the amateurs, in the amateurs, before I learned about the point system, I did used to sit down more on my punches and pick my shots more.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

Well, then you get to the Olympics, and all they care about is who. Who's landing the most points and who has the effect of punching. So you have to fight the point system in order for you to win a fight. Now when you turn pro, it's back to how I was at the beginning, which is more taking my time, sitting on my punches. But I've been doing something else for the past six, seven years, so I have to switch that to turn pro. And then you have to adjust to the no headgear in the pros.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

And that's.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Is that a big difference? What Cause bother you seeing? I mean, your peripheral, you can see.

[Claressa Shields]

More with the head gear off.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

But you feel more too?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, absolutely.

[Claressa Shields]

You know, you see amateurs getting there and fighting the inside and throwing this combination. You're not gonna see that in the.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Pros because, hell, no.

[Claressa Shields]

You got headbutts, you got. I mean, you got elbows, you got. Listen, I got hit with a shoulder in pro boxing, right? A shoulder, right. You know, she was doing something and I came in that girl and hit me my jaw with her damn shoulder.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you ever get mad in there, like, oh, oh, you, you. Oh, you. Oh, oh, you doing that now. Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

I don't get mad inside the ring.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You gotta control it.

[Claressa Shields]

I may look mad, but I'm not. I'm actually very happy and want to show off my skills and show you what I got, you know, But I know that I'm Very strategic. So I know that once you get mad, you can't really think.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Claressa Shields]

So I don't think I've gotten mad in a professional fight since my pro debut, but that's because she kept pushing me on the floor.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, but that's.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She. Well, she must have been really strong. She pushed you down, Clarissa.

[Claressa Shields]

She was rough, but it was like, you know, you sitting there throwing punches, and then you just see somebody just go, boom. So I was like, what the hell? I thought we was punching.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, did you tell. Hey, Ralph, you not gonna say anything?

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, that's when I got mad. Last time, I got mad like, Ralph. Hello.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Last year, the big story in the Olympics was Algeria. Imani Khalif.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Transgender.

[Claressa Shields]

Is it a transgender?

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's what I mean. She's identified her whole life. As if I'm reading it correctly, she's identified her whole life as a female.

[Claressa Shields]

As a woman. I think she was born with the.

[Shannon Sharpe]

XY chromosomes, both parts or something like that. Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

So the reason why I steer clear away from this, because nobody knows the facts, but I don't believe that in boxing, amateur or professional, that they will let in the amateur. That they will let a male. A male fight against women.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

I just don't believe that. I believe that the story was taken out of proportion. All the facts weren't there, and that's what we got. But Iman Khalif fights like a girl.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She does.

[Claressa Shields]

So. And I say that just, like, not to. Just, like, she's a gold medalist, too. So I say that to say, like, if she's always fought against these girls.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Claressa Shields]

Why now is it being changed? For the.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Her whole life, she grew up fighting against women.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And now all of a sudden.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. And. Yeah. So to me, I feel like we would have to go there to actually see her and talk to her and hear what she has to say about it. But I don't think that she identifies as.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Or ever identified as a man.

[Claressa Shields]

Correct. Yeah. I think that she's a girl. And that's why now people say, oh, that they want her to turn pro and fight against me or whatever. Whatever. But she. From what I know, it's a girl. From what I know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Going to the Olympics, obviously, when you go to the Olympics, you make the American team and all these. The NBA. Michael Phelps is there. You meet LeBron James. I mean, you walk next to LeBron.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. Kevin Durant, all that KD.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So what. So what is it like to meet, like, man, I'm most popular I mean, everybody know who these men are. These people are. So what was that like, what was that moment like for you walking into opening ceremony?

[Claressa Shields]

Honestly, I had thought to myself, and this was such a surreal moment. I thought to myself, When I seen LeBron and everybody, I thought to myself, I said, yo, I'm with the best athletes in the world. And then the Donald man said, ding dong, you are here to fight to be one of the best athletes in the world. And that's when it hit me like, yo, I'm really a big deal. I know. I thought I was the stuff then, but I'm really the stuff now, right? Yeah. Let me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You are muscular woman shape, like you said. You got shoulders, you got body. I'm sure you've been criticized.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What's. I mean, I'm a woman.

[Claressa Shields]

People is crazy for one, because they.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Don'T want you to be a bean pole. They want you to be 105 pounds. They want you to be 120 pounds and be a Victoria's Secret model.

[Claressa Shields]

I don't. I really get confused because I feel like maybe it's a preference, but I'm built like the bodies that these girls, that these girls getting and buying.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

You know, I'm thick at the bottom. I got a big butt, nice legs. I got a slim waist.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Claressa Shields]

I may not be too big in the chest, but I don't wanna be big in the chest. Cause I can move my arms, but my back and everything is strong because of my sport.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

But when I put on a dress, I look just as feminine, just as pretty. Just. This is fine. So I don't really get. I think the criticism come from haters or come from people that's jealous or wish that they were me or something.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wish that nobody like you. Serena went through the same thing.

[Claressa Shields]

I seen it firsthand.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Serena. Serena. Oh, she looked like a man or she looked like this. Serena was very muscular. I saw Serena when she was probably in her early 20s and she was. I mean, she was in shape and shape.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes, yes. And now I guess, you know, now they like. I don't know where people, People used to say, oh, she. She look like a man. She all this. And now she. She's done a 180 with her body and everybody's like, well, I don't know why she did that. I like the old body. Well, this, her body.

[Claressa Shields]

Let her know they always got something to say.

[Commercial Announcer (e.g., Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway)]

They do.

[Claressa Shields]

You know, when I was fighting at 154 pounds, I was literally all muscle. Like I I don't think I had no body fat on me because it wasn't any body fat left to be there right now. So then I go to 160. My body was kind of still the same. Now I'm 68, 75. I done got. I had to put on some muscle. My legs done got a little bigger. I done got a little wider in the. In the waist and stuff. And it's more of a. This is what I have to do for the weight class.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. You move up the weight. It's hard. Yeah, Right.

[Claressa Shields]

But I only look really. I don't know. I don't. I don't. To me, I don't look strong like you. You know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, I look strong, I look in shape, but I'm not like, yeah, nah, nah. But they try to make it seem.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Like that you're very feminine. Yes, you are. I mean, women athletes, they have bodies, they have muscles, and they need that to have functionality.

[Claressa Shields]

Yeah. So when I hear that stuff, long as I look in the mirror and I like what I see, that's what makes me happy. People will say that I look like I'm like 140. I say, that's a beautiful compliment, but I walk around at 180. 185 pounds. You know what I'm saying? I know that I'm stacked and when it comes to the fight, I lose my weight or whatever, but I like walking around with my meat and having my. Yeah, having my stuff.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Your man like it?

[Claressa Shields]

Oh, pap. Love it. Okay. I was telling him that I'm gonna fight at 160. He was like, no, you're not. I said, I'm for real. He's like, nah, we not going out at 160.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I mean, but as you get old, as you start, as we start to age, it gets harder to take that weight off. Are you really trying to go back down to that weight?

[Claressa Shields]

If the competition is there, but that's nothing but a diet and nutrition team and just a bit more running. But when. When I have a fight locked in and I. And I have a goal at hand, age doesn't get in the way. I've been working out my entire life, so it's actually easy for me to lose weight. It's all about, am I gonna lock in and focus and make the sacrifices to lose the weight? But I went down to 154 and lost 35 pounds in six weeks. So. Hey, damn, boss. But when you wanna make history. Yeah, I Became the fastest boxer to be three time undisputed champion in the least fights.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Claressa Shields]

So I. So I did that. But the sacrifice was I had to lose £35 in six weeks.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Is there. Is there a heavier? You're the heavy. I mean, you're a heavyweight, so there ain't nowhere you can go.

[Claressa Shields]

So now 175 and 175 plus is different, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you can go up another. You can take it, you can get another weight. You can get another division.

[Claressa Shields]

Not at. Well, me and Danielle Perkins fought at 175 plus, right? Okay, so that's heavyweight, right? But then it's weird because. All right, we got different organizations, right? And for the WBC, they call 175 heavyweight. But then other organizations call 175 light heavy. So it's like when me and her fought, we fought at 175 plus. Cause the contract was at 1. It was at 180. Cause Danielle was a big girl. I came in weighing 173. Danielle came in weighing at 178. And we fought.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn.

[Claressa Shields]

For the heavyweight undisputed championship.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, if you walk around at 180, 185, she walk around at 190, 195, maybe two.

[Claressa Shields]

Danielle Perkins is huge. Danielle Perkins is huge. And like, listen, I love that girl, okay? But when I was like, we was facing off and stuff, I'm like, yo, I ain't know she was this big. Like, somebody ain't telling me something. Hold up. I'm looking at her too, like. And then she's so calm and trying to be all nice to them. I'm like, don't be nice to me. I'm gonna beat you up. And she just like, clarissa, we good. I'm like, no, we not. I know how hard you about to hit me. We is not cool. But no, she. Me fighting against her, let me know. Like, yo, even though I only came and weighed 173 for our fight, and I rehydrated probably to like 1 to 180. It was like, yo, I was able to handle her strength, handle her size. Everything about her was tough. Her bones was hard, she was tall, she was strong. She was quicker than what I thought. I mean, Danielle Perkins was. I understand why she only got six fights. People say, oh, she only had five fights.

[Shannon Sharpe]

When we fought, ain't nobody trying to see her.

[Claressa Shields]

Don't nobody want to fight her. When I watched her fight and some of her fights, these girls came in very confident. The first, second and third round. But then you got to the fourth round and you see these girls is like tired and then they face start getting bloodied up and bruised and I'm like, this girl punching man, this girl is punching for real. And then these girls end up quitting or she stop them and I'm like, yeah, I got your work cut out. I gotta watch out for this one. And that was the only one who I fought so far who I said I gotta watch out for this one. Cause she was she anybody else.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You feel like you going in the ring, you like, I'm confident, I got you.

[Claressa Shields]

Well, I feel like I had her too, but not I was like, I had to watch her. I'm like, I can't slip up in here. Slip up and miss that one second. Hey, catch you with a shot, you be like, woo. You know when the wind wouldn't be like.

[Shannon Sharpe]

This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listened to Part one on. Just simply go back to Club Shay Shay Profile and I'll see you there.

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[Claressa Shields]

Sure thing.

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