![]() “In those first five minutes, she took me down about 15 times.” “I started throwing like crazy, anything I could do to get away from her, to stay off the fence, but within a minute, she took me down,” says Shields. “Just do whatever you can to not be taken down,” said Jackson through the chain-link fence, right before another female fighter charged at her legs. On her first day, Jackson and Wink threw Shields into the deep end to see what she could do. Holm, a training partner who made the jump from boxing to MMA in 2012, has been an added bonus.Ĭlaressa Shields poses with her London and Rio gold medals after her second Olympic title in 2016. She came to learn correct MMA technique, she said, not go sightseeing. “If you’re in Albuquerque, you should be in the military or getting ready for a fight because they’re nothing else to do,” says Shields, not that it matters to her. In addition to top-notch teaching, the gym offers high-quality training partners, at times a hard-to-find commodity in the sport. It’s a mecca for hopeful fighters because its success rate is so high. Last December, Shields relocated to the New Mexico desert, home to the Jackson Wink MMA Academy. ![]() “I told Flint I’d wear my hair blue until the crisis is over, so my hair will be blue.” “To bring awareness to the water crisis, I wear my braids blue for all my fights on the worldwide stage,” says Shields. After seven years, Flint houses are still being refitted with new plumbing. Residents weighed if they wanted a hot shower or a vicious rash – cold water kept the pores closed. The water supply was unusable for drinking and cleaning. Flint became a lightning rod for discord in 2014 when the town’s water supply tested positive for high levels of lead and bacteria. Though boxing has taken her around the world, all roads have led Shields back to Flint, where over half the community is Black or African American and poor. When I came back, I could drive through neighborhoods where things happened to me and not have flashbacks that would get me upset.” “Now, I’m not as bothered when I’m there, not as triggered. “I have a stronger mind to be here ,” Shields says of Flint. The basement was converted into a boxing gym. Shields bought a three-bedroom house from her professional winnings, boosted by endorsement deals and four simultaneous world championship titles in two weight classes. In 2019, Shields and her brother moved back to Flint to rejoin their family. “He finished high school in Florida and it just changed his life, his mindset and it helped me, too.” “After I won the second Olympics, I thought I’d help my family get out of Flint, but the only one that came with me was my younger brother,” says Shields. In 2016, Shields became the only American boxer to earn consecutive gold medals over two Olympic Games. Just 17 years old, she became the youngest US Olympian ever in boxing – and she also won gold, the only boxer from Team USA to do so in London. When Adams passed away, Shields moved in with Crutchfield and his wife for two years to prepare for the London Olympics. “Whatever you do, don’t stop boxing,” she told her granddaughter repeatedly, knowing it might be her only shot of getting out of Flint. When Shields began training at age 11, Grandma Adams was always clear. Shields found comfort in stability’s little details, like the candy bowl on the coffee table that was always full of red, blue and green Kicko Fruit Chews. Shields marveled at Adams’ style, from the antiques displayed around her home to her pool table to the trophy case she had in her living room showcasing awards she’d collected for her poetry. at age five or six, she thought I was deaf. “She was the only one who was patient with me. “My grandma was my best friend,” Shields tells the Guardian. ![]() Shields lived with Adams from age five to 10, then returned during her freshman and sophomore years, until her grandma died. As a child, Shields’ safe haven was her grandma Joanne Adams’ house.
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