RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Shortly after Claressa Shields punched her way through yet another elite opponent to reach another Olympic gold-medal bout, she spontaneously broke into song.
Swaying gently to the tune in her head, the world's best middleweight ripped through several bars of the Bill Withers classic "Just the Two of Us," only with altered lyrics to reflect her shared mission with Shakur Stevenson as the only Americans left in the Rio Olympic boxing tournament.
"Just the two of us, building gold medals in the sky!" Shields sang. "Just the two of us, me and Shakur.