Fighting against undefeated IBF 154-pound champion Marie-Eve Dicaire continues my quest to fight the very best in women's boxing.
— Claressa Shields
I be thinking sometimes, maybe I'm just too hard on people. Maybe I want too much. But no, I don't. All my granny did was cook for me, tell me that she love me, gave me hugs every now and then.
I have a lot of cousins that I don't know. But I think that happens to any celebrity. I wonder how many cousins does Michael Phelps have?
I consider my diet more of a life plan in general, and I have my days where I'll splurge, but I stay disciplined.
When I was in juniors, I was fighting twice a year and going nine months without fighting.
My life is way bigger than boxing or acting or being rich or being famous or endorsements.
I felt abandoned at a young age. That's where most of my anger came from, I guess.
I just love boxing. Train to get there and to just fight somebody.
I train like an animal in the ring. There's nobody that can beat me because I train hard for everybody.
From my first fight, I loved being in the ring. I tune everything out - the lights, the smells, the noise - so I'm in this zone where I'm performing only for myself.
Growing up in Flint, Michigan, I saw so many kids from my school end up in jail or unemployed, and gangs would hang out and cause trouble in my neighborhood. I had to learn how to protect myself, because it didn't feel like anyone else was protecting me.
I get recognized at the airport and at the malls in Colorado.
I was angry because I see other kids with things that I wanted: they had good parents, they had clothes, they always had food and extra money, and I wasn't one of those kids.
At the end of the day, no matter what you do, there will be somebody that don't like you. You don't have to like me, but you will respect what I do.
The biggest motivation for me is becoming a three-division world champion faster than any other boxer, male or female.
Boxing gave me self-confidence that I didn't have growing up. When I was young, I was super quiet and I didn't trust anybody. I didn't like having friends.
A woman can beat me the day I stop working hard. I work so hard in the gym, it would be stupid of me to doubt myself. For me, I know that I'm unbeatable. You can put me in there with whoever.
Fighting in Flint in front of all my fans has been a dream of mine since turning pro. Having the opportunity to make history by fighting for the undisputed title in a second weight division is something I'm very proud of.
Everybody kept saying I wasn't going to get any fights. And they wouldn't put me on TV and they don't respect women's boxing. But I also turned professional with two Olympic gold medals and that's something that no other American boxer has ever done. With that, I've been getting a lot of respect.
I slept with my gold medal.
But now in open division, I get to fight a lot more. I actually like that.
I still really haven't sat down and said 'yeah, I'm ranked No. 1 in the world and I'm an Olympic Gold Medalist.' It just hasn't hit me.
Kids in Flint don't even know that you can write to express your feelings and go to the gym and work out, you can run, you can do whatever you love to help relieve stress.
I've always had heart to get in there and fight. I was taught everything I knew. I was taught how to jab, why to do this, and why not to do that. I was taught that.
I trained my whole life for the Olympics. I didn't have a childhood, I really couldn't go to the beach with my friends. Couldn't go to parties. Just training, training, training.
Boxing is so easy for me, sadly. I don't mean to be cocky. The promoters don't like that I walk through other girls but it's not my fault that I'm so good.
The first punch I learned was the jab. Second, the cross punch; third, the hook - after that, all the combinations and how to move my head and feet. It took me just two months to be ready to get in the ring!
Coming back to Flint and seeing my family keeps me humble. Even though I've been on a worldwide stage, I can still communicate with them on a hood level, if that's what you want to call it.
To be honest, I already felt that I was going to win the gold medal, but with school being so hard I was kind of second-guessing myself. So, when I actually was told that I was going to be able to walk across the stage and be done with high school, it was such a relief.
My coach never looked at me as a female fighter, but just as a fighter, as someone he was training. I had to work just as hard as the guys, or harder than them.
I'm carrying the sport of women's boxing and I am the best woman fighter and that's my role.
Can't nobody else get in there and help you. Your coach, he can't get in the ring and fight with you. You don't have your dad, your mom. When you get in the ring, you don't have anybody but yourself.
I got the nickname T-Rex when I was 11 years old. Back when I was younger, I was very skinny and I had short arms, but I used to always be swinging.
I have a healthy respect. The fact that I get ready for each opponent shows my respect.
My grades started dropping, and when I sleep all day and come to the gym I'd have a slow day. I needed rules, I guess, in boxing and to just help me, period.
I have a world championship medal from 2014, but I can't find it. So I'm missing one. I think it's at my sister's house. I have to find it.
Balancing around the holidays is something I've been doing for years. I saved a lot of money by not going home for Christmas, that's for sure. But I still spoke with all my family and connected with everyone.
At the Olympics, for those eight minutes of each fight, all that attention was on me. Either the crowd is with you or against you.
Laila Ali is not my definition of the best.
If I wanted to curse you out, I would write everything I wanted to say to you in my diary, and it was like screaming in my head. After that, I would have no feelings for you; I wouldn't be mad at you or upset because I already said it to you when I wrote it down. That's what writing did for me.
You got to adjust to how your life is.
I take the toughest challenges and fight against the best women. With that attitude, I will always be doing something big. I'm light-years ahead of my time.
Being a woman fighter, I can't just go out there and manhandle a girl, I need to be very strategic: Use my skills, head movement and defence, then seek and destroy.
My dad would tell me stories about when he was an underground fighter. One day when I was 11, he told me he wished he had a son who could have been a real boxer.
I sign a lot of autographs and take a lot of pictures. That's why I've always got to keep my hair done now.
I always tell my story because I want others who have felt broken to know they can make it.
The only thing that me and Muhammad Ali have in common is that we are both Olympic gold medalists and both very outspoken.
At the end of the day, I am the cash cow in women's boxing.
Living in Flint, poverty is an obstacle that you have to fight through. I always had to fend for my brother and sister - I was always the one to sacrifice my meals so that they could eat.
Confident is believing in yourself. Being humble is, even though you believe in yourself and you know what you're capable of, you still work 10 times harder than your opponent to make sure you get the output you want.
