LAS VEGAS (AP) — She became the first American woman boxer to win a gold medal in the London Olympics, then did it again a few months ago in Rio.
Nice trinkets, but Claressa Shields has bigger things in mind. Way bigger.
“A one-in-a-century fighter,” Shields said.
The brash middleweight from Flint, Michigan, makes her pro debut Saturday night on the undercard of the Andre Ward–Sergey Kovalev light heavyweight title clash. She’ll do it without headgear but with the same two-minute rounds as in the amateurs.
And she will do it against a familiar opponent in Baltimore boxer Franchon Crews, a top amateur she beat on her way to earning a spot on the 2012 Olympic team.