December 23, 2024 • 36 mins
Clarissa Shields a two-time Olympic gold medalist and boxing champion, discusses her life journey, the upcoming biopic 'The Fire Inside', and the challenges she faced as a woman in a male-dominated sport.
Clarissa emphasizes the importance of self-acceptance and confidence and the influence of her upbringing in Flint, Michigan. She also shares insights about her relationship with her coach, the misconceptions about her personality, the struggles of maintaining her identity amidst public scrutiny, and her efforts to control her narrative.
Watch The Trailer The Fire Inside based on the incredible true story of Claressa Shields. Only in theaters on Christmas Day!
Connect @CariChampion @ClarissaSheilds
Learn More Claressa Shields Says Fight With Legend Would Be The Biggest In Women’s Boxing History
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast where we live at
the intersection of sports, politics, and culture. Our purpose reveal
the common threads that bind them all.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
So what's happening in women's basketball right now is what
we've been trying to.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Get to for almost thirty years.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
From the stadiums where athletes break barriers and set records.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Kaylan Clark broke the all time single game assist record.
This is crazy for rookies to be doing.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
To the polls where history is written, and now we
have Kamala Harrison.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It feels more like women are sort of taken what
they've always deserved, as opposed to waiting on somebody to
give them what they deserved.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. In each episode, we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines the light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Gry Champion. Hey everybody, I'm Carrie Champion.
(01:06):
Thank you for being here for a Christmas edition of
Naked Sports.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
The staff and.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I initially thought that we would do a best of
But at the last minute we were able to get
an interview with Clarissa Shields and she is a two
time gold medalist and undefeated world boxing champion, arguably the
best that there is, and she had time for us.
And since her film The Fire Inside is coming out
(01:32):
on Christmas Day, we thought why not why not release
this interview just days before the film. Perhaps it encourages
you all to go and watch it. She's been making
her media run, so I'm sure that maybe you've seen
her in the Zeigeist out in the Atmosphere, But this interview,
I think really captures another side of Clarissa where we
(01:54):
are able to talk to her about how she sees
herself and how the world sees her.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
And I think it's.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Important for people to have a healthy sense of self,
and she has that. She encouraged me and gave me
some self a sip. I was encouraged by her, which
I think is amazing. But most importantly, Claressa is honest
and I think that what she is able to share,
which is the reason why she is so excellent at
(02:21):
what she does, is her authenticity. She explains that just
because she's a boxer doesn't mean, she grew up angry.
While her environment may not have been the best, she
still has a lot of love in her heart and
she wants most people to know who she is. And
I am impressed, truly impressed. I hope that you sit back, relax,
(02:42):
and enjoy this interview. Again, it was at the last minute,
so there might be a few audio hits here and there,
but nonetheless, it's wonderful to hear this beautiful young lady
talk about her journey and what's next for her. Please
enjoy this holiday edition of Naked Sports.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Hey, my name is Clarest of the Globe Shields. Two
time Olympic God Melonis, fifteen time world champion, the only
three time undisputed champion in boxing, also known as the
greatest woman of all time.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Amen, I received that, Clarissa, thank you for being here.
You have a very interesting holiday going on right now.
You have a movie coming out on Christmas Day. Those
types of movies are always set aside for what people
believe will be blockbusters, a story that everybody can relate to,
(03:32):
a feel good story, if you will. Those Christmas Day
movies are set for a reason. Tell me about a
fire inside.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
What is it about the Fire Inside is a biopic
about my life where Ryan News for traying me. It
starts with my life as a young girl, starting at
an age and maybe six seven, and then they fast
forward to eleven years old to where I began boxing,
and then a fast forward to where I.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Was starting to prepare for my.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
First Olympics at the age of sixteen. So I fought
the Olympics I was seventeen, started paying when I was sixteen,
and Dan, it just shows you know what all is
so to get there, what all happened after the Olympics,
my upbringing in Flint, Michigan, how this world is has
this sex and racist ways against brownskin girls, and how
(04:23):
I overcame all that.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
To become who I am up today.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
The quotes Amen, I don't know if you remember I
met you when I worked at ESPN years ago. You're
you're still a teenager, and I remember thinking, what a
great disposition. So for me, that means she seems so
sweet And people have preconceived notions, and it's not just
for you, it's for anybody.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
I have the same preconceived notions.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I walk in the room and people just feel away
about me as soon as I walk in and I
understand that. But when I listen to you talk and
I watch how you interact with other people, whatever preconceived
notions that are there to me would be the opposite.
If I saw you in the ring, I wouldn't say
that is your demeanor outside of the ring. You know
what I mean?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
You are a totally different person growing up.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
What were some of the not even boxing, what were
some of the preconceived notions about you? How did people
feel about you growing up?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
You know, growing up, everybody just kind of accept me
for who I was. Everybody knew that, yeah, I was
a boxer, but I had the most friends. I was
friends with everybody. I was honest, classes I was real quiet.
I didn't get more vocal till I turned probably about
like fifteen, sixteen years old.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I was nice with everybody.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know. I don't know where the miskan where the
I think the misconception came when the world is trying
to understand where does a woman or a young girl
come with all this fire to just want to fight?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
And I think that they just put it all in.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I think they were like shallow minded and were like, oh,
she has to be an angry girl. She has to
have the tough upbringing. She's from Flint, Michigan.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
She grew up poor.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
She hates everybody, she has to fight, And I think
that's just there's way of thinking. And I didn't experience
that growing up until I started going to the Olympic
Training Center and being around more women and being around
more boxes, and being around going across the nation and fighting.
I had never really experienced that until I start going abroad,
(06:17):
and then you read some of these articles and stuff
that they were writing about home, just so angry and upset,
and I was.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Like, where where is this stuff coming from?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
But if anybody takes the time to get to know me,
no matter the situation, regardless, I believe that everybody will say, like, dang,
she's a very nice and understanding person.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know. I'm not really a person that judge no
matter what the situation is. I give my best advice.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I tell you if what's right, what's wrong in my opinion,
But I take everything as an opinion because at the
end of the day, everybody liked us to be lived
how they wanted to be lived, and nobody should have
to live off somebody else's opinion or experiences.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So for me, all those things.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
That people were trying to portray, even when I turned
pro they were just shallow minded, you know, and they
had never experienced a woman like me before.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
And I think being a woman like like.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Like myself, and then also being vocal and not and
not caring about what everybody else think, I think also
made it to where they were like, oh she I
think that was intimidating for them, and that's what they
just was like, we don't understand it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So I think it took them some time to get
to know me.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
But I think now everyone will say, wow, Clarsla is just,
you know, such a wonderful and nice person, and she's
so nice, but she's a beast, but she's very nice
in kind and she helps anyone that's you can.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I think that's a fair I think that's a fair assumption.
No one can tell you who you are but yourself.
You said that you didn't really know you were perceived
a certain way until you started to get more fame,
international attention. Do you think there's an element of racism
to that or is there an element of ignorance, because
those are two different things. Ignorance means I've just never
(08:10):
seen anyone like her fight the way she's fought before.
At least here's an example. I've never seen someone like
her in this field fight with the way in which
she fights without it leading to something or being something
more hidden sinister inside of her. And then racism is
just well, she's an angry black woman. So that's that's
what's happening. Was it a mixture of the two or
(08:32):
how do you feel people perceived and where do you
think these different notions came from.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I can say in the amateurs it was ignorance, you know,
as I got older and I started fighting. But I
can say when I when I when I turned pro racism,
How do y'all have to paint me out when they
controlled the narrative, when they control the storytelling. It got
the points where I would tell the network it's like,
I'm not putting that on my page, like like, I
know it happened. I know that y'all cut this up
and put it here, and y'all put the most the
(09:00):
most craziest part getting you make to sell the fight
and everything. But it got to a point where I'm like,
I'm not posting that. I'm not like one that's too mean.
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yeah, I'm like, it's just too mean.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I'm not only selling the fight, but it's like I
have a genuine dislikes from my opponents when I'm getting
ready to fight in But that's not something that I mean,
the men have that too. But you guys, don't just
focus on that. Show the good stuff. Show my community work,
show me smiling, show me going out to eat with
with my boyfriend or something like.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Show that. Show them all different type of sides, Like,
don't just show.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Them me training my butt off, me running, me punching
the bag, me hitting the pad, me telling my.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Opponent I'm looking up, you know, all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You guys want to put all that together and put
it just all in one video.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
And then it got to a point where're.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Like, my fans were scared of me, and I just
was like, I don't. I don't want that type of image.
I'm like, and that's not who I am. I'm not
a person that my fans should be scared of me
to ask for a picture or to approach me.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I'm another type of person. But that's how I was perceived.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
So I think that that was them one being ignorant,
but them also being racist and saying this is what
we want to show, this is what we want to showcase,
because we don't see the beauty in her, we don't
see the niceness in her. Even though I've always said, listen,
I'm a Christian woman. I go to church most Sundays.
(10:24):
I spent a lot of times with my family. I
had custody of my sister kids for years, and they
lived and stay with me, and I took them to.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
School, fedom clothe them like a mom. When they don't
want to show that stuff. They only want to show
this stuff here.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
And they got to a point to where I told them,
I said, I don't I'm not gonna let you guys
control that anymore. And that's not when I took over
my own brand and start showing the side of me
that I want to show. That's people seeing like, oh
my god, this is a nice girl. This is a
pretty girl.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
This is a woman who is just passionate about blocking
and she's not an angry black woman.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
It took needed to put my foot down and let
them know we're not gonna post certain things. Even though
I may say some things, we're not gonna blast that
all over social media to where that's what I'm perceived
as we're gonna blast and stuff. You're gonna blast the
good stuff along with some bad stuff here and there,
or with some stuff from up to fight. But it
was for a long time. For years, it was nothing
(11:23):
but just angry stuff, me talking trash, me on and
my opponent, even me winning fights, and they're calling my
opponents in the ring and then my opponents start talking
trash to me and.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Then I go off again.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
He's like, no, you guys are kind of setting me
up now to have these things happen, you know. So
it got to the points where I said, don't do
that type of stuff because one, I'm not a woman
that played games. I don't like disrespect. If I won
a world championship fight, Why are you letting my opponent
come in the ring and try to talk trash to me?
(11:56):
Like that's not right? And then you think I supposed
to be professionally. Oh you just said you'd beat me
and my point of the sat and oh that's so cute.
It's like, no, I want to I want to fight
you right now, but I'm like to avoid that and
to be on a classier level, I can't let you
guys do that because it's just not appropriate and I'll
and I also work too hard to just have my
(12:17):
wins get overshadowed by me arguingly with who I'm fight
in next.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I like what you were saying, but I want to
make sure I understand as a boxer, they're marketing you
as a tough person who's angry, who who can fight.
They're not giving that other side of you. You understand.
You understand the marketing concept because you've seen it with
other boxers.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
They do it.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I've never seen them, rarely see them, and you know,
make boxers appear in a different light where you see
their humanity. It took years for us to see Mike
Tyson's humanity, and you, early on in your career, was like,
you gonna see my humanity. Yes, I don't play games
and I handle my business in the ring, but I'm
also a human. It's the duality and the nuance that
(12:57):
you're asking for that they don't give them to, more
specifically women or black women. I think that's profound and
I think it's really smart of you when you started
to push back on your perception.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
How did your team take it? How did the boxing
world take it.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
My team didn't quite understand it at first because I
got really angle with them with just I think I
looked too mean in that picture. I had another picture
where I looked confident and I looked strong, but I
didn't look angry at me.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Can we use that one? And oh, Clarissa, you're just
giving us a hard time. No understand what I'm saying
to you. I want this picture. I don't want that picture.
So now we got things like that, and I'm like, okay.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
So they were respectful of that, but then you know,
when it like comes to how I wear my hair
and how I wear my clothes, I changed all that
and my team was just very.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Respectful of it.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
And I had let them know it's beauty in boxing,
it's not just boxing.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
And the fact that anyone.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
In this world could ever fix the lists to call
me ugly was a problem, and it was like, I
am not ugly. But when I when I used to
hear it, I used to be like, what are they
looking at?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Are they blind?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Hey? Man?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Are they blind? But it like people are so just
focused on this.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
These fists here are so intimidating, and they're and they're
so strong, and fast and.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
They're hard and I'm not small and inside of the
green you don't really get to see the Christmas stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's not that's place for it. That's not the place
for it. But you are a beautiful woman.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, sometimes when it wasn't that time. So when I
do the weighings and I do the press conference and
I be now.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
I'm showing you. I'm I'm showing up to the press
conference in hills.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I got my hair done, my mixed up done, I
got my lashes on where you can see, oh shoot,
and then I gotta figure color bottles. So it's like, yeah,
y'all thought. I don't know what y'all thought, but this
is what it really is. So now that I've shown that,
now they're.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Like, oh no, she's not. And it was like, one,
I was never a an ugly girl. I just had
to I kind of had to put it out there
a bit more.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And because I was comfortable with just my shirt, my
pants and my T shirt, I was comfortable with that.
But now I'm also comforable with you know, we live
in the world now where people feel like if you're
not showing no skin, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
If your stuff ain't see through.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
The outfit ain't popping, So I couldn't really get with
that because it's like, I don't like I don't like
somebody being able to see through my clothes if you're
not if you should only be able to know with
underneath my clothes, and if you've been in the bedroom,
you shouldn't be able to see it out and no club,
press conference, none.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I don't mind wearing no shirt and no shorts, but
all this seat through stuff, I'm like, I'm kind of
against that, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
So it took me away. I want to figure out
what kind of clothes can I wear.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
That can still be considered cute, sexy, pretty, But everybody
was at the time they were just getting naked.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
So I really couldn't get jiggy with that one.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
But I did find some clothes that I was comfortable
and that was still okay, this is nice, this fits
you well.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
It's not it's showing something. It's not showing too much.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
It's classy, you know. So I like to be like that,
and at the time everybody wasn't like that. Now people
are starting to come back to the other side, but hey,
we see it every day.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
These girls that aren't naked and every chance to get
their naked.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Back in a moment.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
In a world that tells people who are in front
of the camera, women more specifically, to be more sexy,
whether you are a dancer, a host, a model, an athlete. Athletes,
especially women especially feel like when they're an athlete, they have.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
To prove their beauty.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
They overdo the hair, the makeup, the looks because they
want to bring in a fan base and they feel
like that's the key there. I'm old enough to remember
when Serena Williams was world number one and she wasn't
getting the praise or the marketing deals or any of
those things because of what people felt like, what she
looked like. I remember her being like, I'm world number one,
(17:27):
but yet Maria Sharapova is getting off the marketing dollars?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
What else do I need to do?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And for you to say, I'm not with that, but
I can find something that's a happy medium that makes
me comfortable.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
So be it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
That is the antithesis of what That is the antithesis
of what management will tell you and what this world
will tell you.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Where do you get that confidence from?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I just had these things where I feel like when
I look in the mirror, I'm okay with what I see,
then I'm okay. You know, I have tried to be
the person to listen to outsiders and change my hair
and wear these clothes and do this, and I've looked
in the mirror and I've said I don't like this,
you know, I don't like the person that it makes
me feel like I'm uncomfortable. I'm not I'm not happy
(18:14):
it Maane, me depressed trying to please other people. And
I said, you know what, if God hasn't gotten me
there yet to where I want to do this stuff,
I'm just not gonna do it.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
And I decided to just be okay with me.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And I think a lot of people want to be
accepted by others so much that they go out their way.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And I'm like, at the end of the day, sadly,
you know, when you die, you go by yourself, you know,
and when you get to the heaven.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Gates and God get to decide, hey, you.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Coming with me or you're going down with the devil.
I want God to look at me and say you
come in with me. And I think that me being
true to myself and not letting this world try to
change me because money or stature or whatever. And I
think me just staying true to myself and being a woman,
of being a woman of God.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
It's like, I just feel much better doing it that way.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
And you know, I think it's just it's a thing
of I wouldn't want to be nobody else in this
world but myself. Like do I have goals that are
similar to others, Yes, but I wouldn't want to be them.
And I'm not gonna fold to the pressures of this world.
You know, they tell darts some girls that were too dark,
and then you see some of these dark skinned girls
going and bleaching their skin. You know, you freaking see
(19:25):
these girls who are critiqued and they and they got
a nice shape, and they say, but your button not
big enough. These girls gonna get but these girls gonna
give your breast and it's and it's dangerous to them
and it's killing them. I just I just find it
okay to be happy with what God gave you and
what he blessed you with, you know. And I'm just
I'm okay with that. And I and I hope other
(19:47):
can you know learn that too, Like, hey, you wanna
get mebl do it because you want to do it,
not because the world is telling you, Oh, your blessed
too little and everybody got a big butt. That's how
you get a mainstream of But I think that everybody
should just do what they want to do with their
own life because it makes them happen, because it's your life.
(20:08):
But I think it too much for everybody else approval.
And that's the problem right there.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
That's a that is a true story.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
You grew up in Flint, Michigan, And I wonder growing
up in Flint, Michigan, what was it like like? Tell
me about your childhood because what I'm trying to connect
the dots is a lot of who we are has
a lot to do with how we were raised. Whether
it just does it happens, we don't even know what's happening.
You grew up with your grandmother, your mother, your sisters.
(20:40):
Tell me, your siblings, your younger siblings. Tell me how
you grew up in Flint.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
So eight is one through five.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I stayed with my mom and then I had got
abuse at five, you know, I got tottect and rape.
So after that I stayed with my grandma for five years.
So I was ten, moved back with my mom start
boxing at the age of eleven.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Stand my mom.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I stayed with my little sister, my younger brother, and
my older brother artist, so it was just all four
of us. I started boxing, and honestly, even though I
had the hard sess going through, like we didn't have
a lot of food at home.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Mom was abusing alcohol at the time. You know, my
little sister got pregnant.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Very young, fifteen sixteen years old. My brother ended up
going to going to going to prison for some years.
I think a lot of this stuff did not affect
me as bad as it should have affected me because
I was in the gym.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I was in a gym training.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I was in the gym training, and I was I
was in the gym training, and I was at school.
And that's the most so important things that mattered to me.
You know, I could give myself a curfew at ten o'clock.
My mom didn' give me no curfew. She didn't care
how I let I say that out. But I be
back in the house every day nine forty five, nine
fifty oh a lot.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I'm going off, you guys talking me to go home.
I gotta go home.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
It's nothing late, it's nothing out late at night open,
but yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Legs and trouble. So I'm going home. That's what I felt.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
You just that different. Well, where did you get that
discipline from? Where'd you get that discipline from? Where does
that come from? It's just an eight you got it naturally.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
At the age of thirteen.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I made a decision that I was going to your
Olympics at seventeen, you know. So it was just like
you got four years, four years to give to Joe All.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
You got four years to do right, you got four years.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
To be perfect. I just didn't want to mess that up.
So I kind of put it on myself and I
believe it. Also of my boxing posts too were like rest,
go home at night and get your sleep so you
can get the best six o'clock in the morning and
go for your morning around before school, you know, like
Jason was like, you can do that. You know, we
(22:56):
feel like gonna be in better shake. You want more win,
take your butt home at ten o'clock. And then when
you go to sleep and you get up in the morning,
you get up refreshed, you work out, then you go
to school, and then after school you could a box
and practice, you know, and I think him telling you
those things, I'll just kind of be like, yeah, you're right.
And once I said yeah, you're right, he's yeah, you're right,
(23:18):
this is what got to get done.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
That sounds like your piece was in You found your
piece and discipline. You found it in school, you found
it in the gym. You found it because you knew
what your purpose was. That to me feels very destined,
purposeful when you have that at such a young age.
I always talk to people on the podcast who do special,
(23:41):
extraordinary things, and they say they just knew from a
certain age that they had to do it. And it's
always very young, despite what's around them, despite the trauma.
And I don't want to give all this away because
I know and the fire inside you talk about it
talks about your upbringing. It talks about your relationship with
your first boxing coach and Chason, and how he was
your father's clast coach. In a lot of ways, you
(24:03):
all are no longer working together. And for the folks
who are listening after they see the film, because they'll
listen to this maybe after they see the film or
before they see the film, well, why are you all
at work together and are you open to possibly working
with him again.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Well, you know, me and Jason when our first left
the Gold Meda together and then when I turned pro,
we won our first World tied together, you know, so
we got talking to work together in times that we.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Didn't right now.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
You know, I haven't worked with Jason maybe in six years,
and I've been professionals maybe eight or something like that.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
A Jason is a great coach, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
And I mean the fall apart was at my younger age,
you know, was the whole rule was about the dating thing,
which album was eight years ago, so it was like,
can't tell him I can't date, you know.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
But he was just trying to protect me. You know,
if I can go back in time.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And not not be rebellious against it and not let
me and not follow my heart, I definitely, if I
can go back in time, I would have chose to
not have a boyfriend ever until I was probably like
twenty five. I'm telling you the truth. Like I would
have just I would have just waited. I would have
(25:20):
waited it. But it's like when somebody's trying to make
you not do something, it's something always ain't like, oh well,
I'm gonna do it anyway, so if I can go
back in time, Lord Lord, No, I will not have
what for until I like twenty five.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I promise I wouldn't do it.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
That's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
No, I'm so serious, like, I wouldn't do it. It's
been it's such a headache. It's such a headache. I
think about in those years.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Of seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
I've always had a boyfriend. So it's like it's been
a headache with this one headache, with that one headg
with that one I wish I just would never eat.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
So now you see what Jason, what Jason was trying
to say. You saw you know what Jason was trying to.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Tell you sotely, you know, and I told him that.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I was like, yeah, you was right, You're not but
I wish I you know, you and a young girl
say don't even listen to much.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
But you know, I think that me and Jason and
Jason in a great standing. He's training kids still in Flint, Michigan.
He got he's a great coach.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
And I'm professional doing my thing, a professional who got
us the movie together. But me and Jason, we are
too much alike you always, but hands he raised me,
you know. It's it's certain morals in me that he
put in me that he has in him. And sometimes
they clash, you know, but that that doesn't make him
a bad person. He just created a very very strong individual,
(26:40):
and he's a very strong individual.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
And sometimes you know, we don't get along, you know,
but I have a lot of.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Respect for him, and I'm always thankful to always giving him,
giving him his props.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
He taught me how to fight.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
He taught me how to bob, you know, and that's
something that you know, I'm always going to be grateful
for no matter who I work with. It and you
know it, if he ever wanted to, if we ever
we we ever take again, who knows, but if we did,
I'm quite sure it'd be just as successful as it
has ever been.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Yeah, it's interesting. The people who love you the most
always just try to protect you. But sometimes we don't
know how to go about it. You know, you love
somebody so much, and this is even in relationships. You
loved someone so much, sometimes you don't have the words
or the ability to love them the way they need
to be loved. During a certain time, and explain things
to them. It's just how all relationships go. You talk
(27:29):
about relationships and boyfriends and headaches. I'm going to tell
you something about how matter of fact you are as
you're dealing with the the remy.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Mah of it all.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
On Jamel's podcast, you would like you said, give me
a dollar. Did you see that post, that post Jamail
put up today about on politics?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:47):
It was, it was. It was.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
It was very matter of fact. It wasn't I'm ready
to fight. You were just like this person put my
phone number on the internet. You're like, you were just
like I was.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
It's really not about It's really not about whatever she's
trying to make it about, you know, about oh this
is me and him, but da, everyone knows their situation
out there, allowed or whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
The case needs to be. Yeah, it's not. It's not
about fighting.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Over fighting over anything, because who in their right mind
will do will do something like that, fight over fight
over a man, period.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
That just is not my character. It's just the fact
that that she don't even notice.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
She don't know the situation, and she just put my
number out there and and then also create creative, fake,
fake text messages. So that's my that's my issue. I
don't know what else she has going on. I see
all these blogs and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
It's not to clear that stuff up.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I'm working on, uh, training for my fight and promoting
my movie, you know. And honestly, if I had a
boyfriend or a man, I've always had.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
A public relationship. Yeah you're like, it's just like yeah,
but if we're not, if we're not that you know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
It's like people just going around whatever that they're going
to run with and it's not really my place to
get in that.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I think she needs to she.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Needs to do a whole lot of healing and she
needs to go figure her stuff out.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
But putting my number out there was just like very
very which is very very.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Hildish and then disturb all this stuff and she got it, man,
stop just stop it. She she got a man already.
And it's not who she's saying. It is like she
she's crazy. I don't know what's said.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Okay, so you are not with you don't have a boyfriend,
you're not in a relationship.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Is that what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
My private life is my private life. And if I
had a boyfriend, I would be public. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
That she said it, You're like, yes, in the story period.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Back in a moment, I think the way you're handling yourself,
and I don't know if you run that past pr
or anybody, the way you're handling yourself to me explains
a lot of why you are so successful at what
you do. You have decided to be who you are authentically.
(30:21):
Is there ever a time where you think it's too much?
Has this journey been hard for you because you make
it feel effortless?
Speaker 4 (30:30):
Has this journey been hard for you?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
It has been extremely yard.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
It's like more fame I get, the more money I get,
the more accomplishments I get, it gets harder. You know.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Right now I can say like I have had to
change with my.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Entire life, you know, And it's not because God has
told me to you know. And when you don't listen
to God, when God to do things at a certain time,
it can detoy your life.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
So I'm happy that in this season I listen to
what God I told you to do. God told me
to leave Flint two years ago, two.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Years so I lived in Flint the past two years.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Depressed, said Mad all the time, getting ready for camps,
dealing with family drama, dealing with friends drama, being around
fake friends.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
I've dealt with this for the past two or three years.
When God being told.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Me, if you don't pack up your bags and go
and live where you've been wanting to live, where I
gave you the finances to live where you deserve to live,
where there's good energy and better energy, if you don't go,
and I just didn't want to do it.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I didn't want to leave my family. I didn't want
to leave my current with my past relationship. I didn't
want to leave you know, I said my family. I
didn't want to leave my friends. It was so much
I'm like, God, I'm leaving behind.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
But then I moved and God just exposed everybody for
being who they are and what they are, and he
letting me know, this is why you need to get
away from them, because if.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
You want to stay, you would have been in jail.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
How do you have a soft middle?
Speaker 1 (32:02):
How do you still have a soft meddle with all
the heart around you because you have every reason to
be hard.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I just create my all little world that I was
did and and I'm okay with that.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
I create my own lower world. Lie.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I got some new friends now, all my little other
faith friends, the ones who call they stuff having to
be for me or growing apart whatever that bush needs,
you know, saying that, oh we never got into an argument,
but we're not friends anymore and you've changed and they
don't want to be friends the more, and just oh,
you do more stuff for your friends than.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
You do for your family.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
But whatever the case may be, all that fake people
that was doing that stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
They're gone now.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
And it was a season where it was just me
and I and I spent months by myself, you know,
I spent months with myself, And not that it was easy.
It wasn't easy. But what I can say is that
it helped me realize that at the end of the day,
I put in so much hard work in the box
and that I deserve to have a happy life despite
(33:03):
people wanting to take everything from me and feeling entitled.
You know, I've never been entitled to nobody else, money, time, cars, nothing.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I always can't have to work for everything myself.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
People think that I worked that hard just to give
it all the way to them, and it's like, no,
this is the heart, this is the fruit of my labor,
not the fraud of your labor.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So listen, the soft metal is now. I got new friends.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
I got new people that support me through everything I
go through, you know, all social media, all social media.
I got people that really care about me and love
the mess out of me more than people who I've
been off for years.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
And these are new people in my life. And I think,
say that I'm happy, I'll listen to God, and I
feel so much more.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I feel free, Like I went through depression for a
long time, and I was scared to tell people, you know,
I went through the social thoughts, got in the boxing
match and go and I would go through camp depressed,
and I would train hard and coach.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
They have to talk me off the ledge so.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Many times, and and my assist they have to take
my phone, and just all types of stuff that I
went through for years, and people only see, Oh, she
on top, she win and she's a champion, she's the best,
she's the quote, and I'm and I'm struggling mentally this
whole time. Now I finally feel a lot better to
where I'm not struggling like that no more. And and
I don't feel the pressure to the world and people
(34:29):
constantly pulling a knee, and I'm making making everybody.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Else happy, but I'm not happy.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
I finally feel like how I think the greatest.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Woman of all times to feel.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I feel free and I feel better and I and
I'm just happy about that.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
You feel free and you feel better, and you're happy
about that. You deserve that. It's interesting I think everybody
can relate to. When you start doing really well, the
people you know around you start to change. That's how
you decide who you're, who your people are. It happens
to your not alone. Like what you're saying feels very
much a shared experience. The one part that I wanted
(35:05):
to tell you was that you're like, there are people
who love me. You have so many people who love you.
People you don't even know who love you. There are
little brown girls from watching you right now, inspire by you,
happy to hear you say how beautiful you are and
what is wrong with everybody else? You gave me confidence
in this podcast. Imagine what you're doing for people day.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
In and day out.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
And I'm a good old grown woman, Like I love
the way she moved, I love her confidence. Let me
take some of this today. I need this. Thank you.
You are walking inspiration and I know it's not easy.
I ask because I want to know your techniques and
it is very similar to what made you great.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
You're very disciplined.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
It takes a minute, like we don't always get it
right away, but when we get it, we get it.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
No, you're right about that, and like I said, I'm
still wrong, but I'm happy with where I'm not.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
I'm happy for you.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
The movie comes out Christmas Day. The Fire inside Ryan,
Destiny is there. We talk about coach Jason, and we
talk about that relationship up, you talk about growing up.
I don't want to give any of any of it away,
but if you're inspired by this podcast, you most definitely
will be inspired by this movie. Clarissa Shields, thank you
so much for being you. You're needed.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Thank you for having me appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Naked Sports written and executive produced by me Kerry Champion,
produced by Jock Vice Thomas sound Design and mastered by
Dwayne Crawford. Associate producer Olubusayl Shabby. Naked Sports is a
part of the Black Effect podcast network in iHeartMedia
Welcome to Naked Sports, the podcast where we live at
the intersection of sports, politics, and culture. Our purpose reveal
the common threads that bind them all.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
So what's happening in women's basketball right now is what
we've been trying to.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Get to for almost thirty years.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
From the stadiums where athletes break barriers and set records.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Kaylan Clark broke the all time single game assist record.
This is crazy for rookies to be doing.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
To the polls where history is written, and now we
have Kamala Harrison.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It feels more like women are sort of taken what
they've always deserved, as opposed to waiting on somebody to
give them what they deserved.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. In each episode, we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines the light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Gry Champion. Hey everybody, I'm Carrie Champion.
(01:06):
Thank you for being here for a Christmas edition of
Naked Sports.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
The staff and.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I initially thought that we would do a best of
But at the last minute we were able to get
an interview with Clarissa Shields and she is a two
time gold medalist and undefeated world boxing champion, arguably the
best that there is, and she had time for us.
And since her film The Fire Inside is coming out
(01:32):
on Christmas Day, we thought why not why not release
this interview just days before the film. Perhaps it encourages
you all to go and watch it. She's been making
her media run, so I'm sure that maybe you've seen
her in the Zeigeist out in the Atmosphere, But this interview,
I think really captures another side of Clarissa where we
(01:54):
are able to talk to her about how she sees
herself and how the world sees her.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
And I think it's.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Important for people to have a healthy sense of self,
and she has that. She encouraged me and gave me
some self a sip. I was encouraged by her, which
I think is amazing. But most importantly, Claressa is honest
and I think that what she is able to share,
which is the reason why she is so excellent at
(02:21):
what she does, is her authenticity. She explains that just
because she's a boxer doesn't mean, she grew up angry.
While her environment may not have been the best, she
still has a lot of love in her heart and
she wants most people to know who she is. And
I am impressed, truly impressed. I hope that you sit back, relax,
(02:42):
and enjoy this interview. Again, it was at the last minute,
so there might be a few audio hits here and there,
but nonetheless, it's wonderful to hear this beautiful young lady
talk about her journey and what's next for her. Please
enjoy this holiday edition of Naked Sports.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Hey, my name is Clarest of the Globe Shields. Two
time Olympic God Melonis, fifteen time world champion, the only
three time undisputed champion in boxing, also known as the
greatest woman of all time.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Amen, I received that, Clarissa, thank you for being here.
You have a very interesting holiday going on right now.
You have a movie coming out on Christmas Day. Those
types of movies are always set aside for what people
believe will be blockbusters, a story that everybody can relate to,
(03:32):
a feel good story, if you will. Those Christmas Day
movies are set for a reason. Tell me about a
fire inside.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
What is it about the Fire Inside is a biopic
about my life where Ryan News for traying me. It
starts with my life as a young girl, starting at
an age and maybe six seven, and then they fast
forward to eleven years old to where I began boxing,
and then a fast forward to where I.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Was starting to prepare for my.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
First Olympics at the age of sixteen. So I fought
the Olympics I was seventeen, started paying when I was sixteen,
and Dan, it just shows you know what all is
so to get there, what all happened after the Olympics,
my upbringing in Flint, Michigan, how this world is has
this sex and racist ways against brownskin girls, and how
(04:23):
I overcame all that.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
To become who I am up today.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
The quotes Amen, I don't know if you remember I
met you when I worked at ESPN years ago. You're
you're still a teenager, and I remember thinking, what a
great disposition. So for me, that means she seems so
sweet And people have preconceived notions, and it's not just
for you, it's for anybody.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
I have the same preconceived notions.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
I walk in the room and people just feel away
about me as soon as I walk in and I
understand that. But when I listen to you talk and
I watch how you interact with other people, whatever preconceived
notions that are there to me would be the opposite.
If I saw you in the ring, I wouldn't say
that is your demeanor outside of the ring. You know
what I mean?
Speaker 4 (05:05):
You are a totally different person growing up.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
What were some of the not even boxing, what were
some of the preconceived notions about you? How did people
feel about you growing up?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
You know, growing up, everybody just kind of accept me
for who I was. Everybody knew that, yeah, I was
a boxer, but I had the most friends. I was
friends with everybody. I was honest, classes I was real quiet.
I didn't get more vocal till I turned probably about
like fifteen, sixteen years old.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I was nice with everybody.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
You know. I don't know where the miskan where the
I think the misconception came when the world is trying
to understand where does a woman or a young girl
come with all this fire to just want to fight?
Speaker 3 (05:45):
And I think that they just put it all in.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
I think they were like shallow minded and were like, oh,
she has to be an angry girl. She has to
have the tough upbringing. She's from Flint, Michigan.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
She grew up poor.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
She hates everybody, she has to fight, And I think
that's just there's way of thinking. And I didn't experience
that growing up until I started going to the Olympic
Training Center and being around more women and being around
more boxes, and being around going across the nation and fighting.
I had never really experienced that until I start going abroad,
(06:17):
and then you read some of these articles and stuff
that they were writing about home, just so angry and upset,
and I was.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Like, where where is this stuff coming from?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
But if anybody takes the time to get to know me,
no matter the situation, regardless, I believe that everybody will say, like, dang,
she's a very nice and understanding person.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
You know. I'm not really a person that judge no
matter what the situation is. I give my best advice.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
I tell you if what's right, what's wrong in my opinion,
But I take everything as an opinion because at the
end of the day, everybody liked us to be lived
how they wanted to be lived, and nobody should have
to live off somebody else's opinion or experiences.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So for me, all those things.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
That people were trying to portray, even when I turned
pro they were just shallow minded, you know, and they
had never experienced a woman like me before.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
And I think being a woman like like.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Like myself, and then also being vocal and not and
not caring about what everybody else think, I think also
made it to where they were like, oh she I
think that was intimidating for them, and that's what they
just was like, we don't understand it.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So I think it took them some time to get
to know me.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
But I think now everyone will say, wow, Clarsla is just,
you know, such a wonderful and nice person, and she's
so nice, but she's a beast, but she's very nice
in kind and she helps anyone that's you can.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I think that's a fair I think that's a fair assumption.
No one can tell you who you are but yourself.
You said that you didn't really know you were perceived
a certain way until you started to get more fame,
international attention. Do you think there's an element of racism
to that or is there an element of ignorance, because
those are two different things. Ignorance means I've just never
(08:10):
seen anyone like her fight the way she's fought before.
At least here's an example. I've never seen someone like
her in this field fight with the way in which
she fights without it leading to something or being something
more hidden sinister inside of her. And then racism is
just well, she's an angry black woman. So that's that's
what's happening. Was it a mixture of the two or
(08:32):
how do you feel people perceived and where do you
think these different notions came from.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
I can say in the amateurs it was ignorance, you know,
as I got older and I started fighting. But I
can say when I when I when I turned pro racism,
How do y'all have to paint me out when they
controlled the narrative, when they control the storytelling. It got
the points where I would tell the network it's like,
I'm not putting that on my page, like like, I
know it happened. I know that y'all cut this up
and put it here, and y'all put the most the
(09:00):
most craziest part getting you make to sell the fight
and everything. But it got to a point where I'm like,
I'm not posting that. I'm not like one that's too mean.
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Yeah, I'm like, it's just too mean.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I'm not only selling the fight, but it's like I
have a genuine dislikes from my opponents when I'm getting
ready to fight in But that's not something that I mean,
the men have that too. But you guys, don't just
focus on that. Show the good stuff. Show my community work,
show me smiling, show me going out to eat with
with my boyfriend or something like.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Show that. Show them all different type of sides, Like,
don't just show.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Them me training my butt off, me running, me punching
the bag, me hitting the pad, me telling my.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Opponent I'm looking up, you know, all this stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
You guys want to put all that together and put
it just all in one video.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
And then it got to a point where're.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Like, my fans were scared of me, and I just
was like, I don't. I don't want that type of image.
I'm like, and that's not who I am. I'm not
a person that my fans should be scared of me
to ask for a picture or to approach me.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I'm another type of person. But that's how I was perceived.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
So I think that that was them one being ignorant,
but them also being racist and saying this is what
we want to show, this is what we want to showcase,
because we don't see the beauty in her, we don't
see the niceness in her. Even though I've always said, listen,
I'm a Christian woman. I go to church most Sundays.
(10:24):
I spent a lot of times with my family. I
had custody of my sister kids for years, and they
lived and stay with me, and I took them to.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
School, fedom clothe them like a mom. When they don't
want to show that stuff. They only want to show
this stuff here.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
And they got to a point to where I told them,
I said, I don't I'm not gonna let you guys
control that anymore. And that's not when I took over
my own brand and start showing the side of me
that I want to show. That's people seeing like, oh
my god, this is a nice girl. This is a
pretty girl.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
This is a woman who is just passionate about blocking
and she's not an angry black woman.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
It took needed to put my foot down and let
them know we're not gonna post certain things. Even though
I may say some things, we're not gonna blast that
all over social media to where that's what I'm perceived
as we're gonna blast and stuff. You're gonna blast the
good stuff along with some bad stuff here and there,
or with some stuff from up to fight. But it
was for a long time. For years, it was nothing
(11:23):
but just angry stuff, me talking trash, me on and
my opponent, even me winning fights, and they're calling my
opponents in the ring and then my opponents start talking
trash to me and.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Then I go off again.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
He's like, no, you guys are kind of setting me
up now to have these things happen, you know. So
it got to the points where I said, don't do
that type of stuff because one, I'm not a woman
that played games. I don't like disrespect. If I won
a world championship fight, Why are you letting my opponent
come in the ring and try to talk trash to me?
(11:56):
Like that's not right? And then you think I supposed
to be professionally. Oh you just said you'd beat me
and my point of the sat and oh that's so cute.
It's like, no, I want to I want to fight
you right now, but I'm like to avoid that and
to be on a classier level, I can't let you
guys do that because it's just not appropriate and I'll
and I also work too hard to just have my
(12:17):
wins get overshadowed by me arguingly with who I'm fight
in next.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
I like what you were saying, but I want to
make sure I understand as a boxer, they're marketing you
as a tough person who's angry, who who can fight.
They're not giving that other side of you. You understand.
You understand the marketing concept because you've seen it with
other boxers.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
They do it.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
I've never seen them, rarely see them, and you know,
make boxers appear in a different light where you see
their humanity. It took years for us to see Mike
Tyson's humanity, and you, early on in your career, was like,
you gonna see my humanity. Yes, I don't play games
and I handle my business in the ring, but I'm
also a human. It's the duality and the nuance that
(12:57):
you're asking for that they don't give them to, more
specifically women or black women. I think that's profound and
I think it's really smart of you when you started
to push back on your perception.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
How did your team take it? How did the boxing
world take it.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
My team didn't quite understand it at first because I
got really angle with them with just I think I
looked too mean in that picture. I had another picture
where I looked confident and I looked strong, but I
didn't look angry at me.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Can we use that one? And oh, Clarissa, you're just
giving us a hard time. No understand what I'm saying
to you. I want this picture. I don't want that picture.
So now we got things like that, and I'm like, okay.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
So they were respectful of that, but then you know,
when it like comes to how I wear my hair
and how I wear my clothes, I changed all that
and my team was just very.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Respectful of it.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
And I had let them know it's beauty in boxing,
it's not just boxing.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
And the fact that anyone.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
In this world could ever fix the lists to call
me ugly was a problem, and it was like, I
am not ugly. But when I when I used to
hear it, I used to be like, what are they
looking at?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
Are they blind?
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Hey? Man?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Are they blind? But it like people are so just
focused on this.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
These fists here are so intimidating, and they're and they're
so strong, and fast and.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
They're hard and I'm not small and inside of the
green you don't really get to see the Christmas stuff.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's not that's place for it. That's not the place
for it. But you are a beautiful woman.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Yeah, sometimes when it wasn't that time. So when I
do the weighings and I do the press conference and
I be now.
Speaker 3 (14:47):
I'm showing you. I'm I'm showing up to the press
conference in hills.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
I got my hair done, my mixed up done, I
got my lashes on where you can see, oh shoot,
and then I gotta figure color bottles. So it's like, yeah,
y'all thought. I don't know what y'all thought, but this
is what it really is. So now that I've shown that,
now they're.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Like, oh no, she's not. And it was like, one,
I was never a an ugly girl. I just had
to I kind of had to put it out there
a bit more.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And because I was comfortable with just my shirt, my
pants and my T shirt, I was comfortable with that.
But now I'm also comforable with you know, we live
in the world now where people feel like if you're
not showing no skin, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
If your stuff ain't see through.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
The outfit ain't popping, So I couldn't really get with
that because it's like, I don't like I don't like
somebody being able to see through my clothes if you're
not if you should only be able to know with
underneath my clothes, and if you've been in the bedroom,
you shouldn't be able to see it out and no club,
press conference, none.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Of that stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I don't mind wearing no shirt and no shorts, but
all this seat through stuff, I'm like, I'm kind of
against that, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
So it took me away. I want to figure out
what kind of clothes can I wear.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
That can still be considered cute, sexy, pretty, But everybody
was at the time they were just getting naked.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
So I really couldn't get jiggy with that one.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
But I did find some clothes that I was comfortable
and that was still okay, this is nice, this fits
you well.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
It's not it's showing something. It's not showing too much.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
It's classy, you know. So I like to be like that,
and at the time everybody wasn't like that. Now people
are starting to come back to the other side, but hey,
we see it every day.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
These girls that aren't naked and every chance to get
their naked.
Speaker 4 (16:38):
Back in a moment.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
In a world that tells people who are in front
of the camera, women more specifically, to be more sexy,
whether you are a dancer, a host, a model, an athlete. Athletes,
especially women especially feel like when they're an athlete, they have.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
To prove their beauty.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
They overdo the hair, the makeup, the looks because they
want to bring in a fan base and they feel
like that's the key there. I'm old enough to remember
when Serena Williams was world number one and she wasn't
getting the praise or the marketing deals or any of
those things because of what people felt like, what she
looked like. I remember her being like, I'm world number one,
(17:27):
but yet Maria Sharapova is getting off the marketing dollars?
Speaker 4 (17:31):
What else do I need to do?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
And for you to say, I'm not with that, but
I can find something that's a happy medium that makes
me comfortable.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
So be it.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
That is the antithesis of what That is the antithesis
of what management will tell you and what this world
will tell you.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Where do you get that confidence from?
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I just had these things where I feel like when
I look in the mirror, I'm okay with what I see,
then I'm okay. You know, I have tried to be
the person to listen to outsiders and change my hair
and wear these clothes and do this, and I've looked
in the mirror and I've said I don't like this,
you know, I don't like the person that it makes
me feel like I'm uncomfortable. I'm not I'm not happy
(18:14):
it Maane, me depressed trying to please other people. And
I said, you know what, if God hasn't gotten me
there yet to where I want to do this stuff,
I'm just not gonna do it.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
And I decided to just be okay with me.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
And I think a lot of people want to be
accepted by others so much that they go out their way.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
To do it.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
And I'm like, at the end of the day, sadly,
you know, when you die, you go by yourself, you know,
and when you get to the heaven.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Gates and God get to decide, hey, you.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Coming with me or you're going down with the devil.
I want God to look at me and say you
come in with me. And I think that me being
true to myself and not letting this world try to
change me because money or stature or whatever. And I
think me just staying true to myself and being a woman,
of being a woman of God.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
It's like, I just feel much better doing it that way.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
And you know, I think it's just it's a thing
of I wouldn't want to be nobody else in this
world but myself. Like do I have goals that are
similar to others, Yes, but I wouldn't want to be them.
And I'm not gonna fold to the pressures of this world.
You know, they tell darts some girls that were too dark,
and then you see some of these dark skinned girls
going and bleaching their skin. You know, you freaking see
(19:25):
these girls who are critiqued and they and they got
a nice shape, and they say, but your button not
big enough. These girls gonna get but these girls gonna
give your breast and it's and it's dangerous to them
and it's killing them. I just I just find it
okay to be happy with what God gave you and
what he blessed you with, you know. And I'm just
I'm okay with that. And I and I hope other
(19:47):
can you know learn that too, Like, hey, you wanna
get mebl do it because you want to do it,
not because the world is telling you, Oh, your blessed
too little and everybody got a big butt. That's how
you get a mainstream of But I think that everybody
should just do what they want to do with their
own life because it makes them happen, because it's your life.
(20:08):
But I think it too much for everybody else approval.
And that's the problem right there.
Speaker 4 (20:14):
That's a that is a true story.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
You grew up in Flint, Michigan, And I wonder growing
up in Flint, Michigan, what was it like like? Tell
me about your childhood because what I'm trying to connect
the dots is a lot of who we are has
a lot to do with how we were raised. Whether
it just does it happens, we don't even know what's happening.
You grew up with your grandmother, your mother, your sisters.
(20:40):
Tell me, your siblings, your younger siblings. Tell me how
you grew up in Flint.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
So eight is one through five.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I stayed with my mom and then I had got
abuse at five, you know, I got tottect and rape.
So after that I stayed with my grandma for five years.
So I was ten, moved back with my mom start
boxing at the age of eleven.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
Stand my mom.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
I stayed with my little sister, my younger brother, and
my older brother artist, so it was just all four
of us. I started boxing, and honestly, even though I
had the hard sess going through, like we didn't have
a lot of food at home.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Mom was abusing alcohol at the time. You know, my
little sister got pregnant.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Very young, fifteen sixteen years old. My brother ended up
going to going to going to prison for some years.
I think a lot of this stuff did not affect
me as bad as it should have affected me because
I was in the gym.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I was in a gym training.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I was in the gym training, and I was I
was in the gym training, and I was at school.
And that's the most so important things that mattered to me.
You know, I could give myself a curfew at ten o'clock.
My mom didn' give me no curfew. She didn't care
how I let I say that out. But I be
back in the house every day nine forty five, nine
fifty oh a lot.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
I'm going off, you guys talking me to go home.
I gotta go home.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
It's nothing late, it's nothing out late at night open,
but yeah.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Legs and trouble. So I'm going home. That's what I felt.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
You just that different. Well, where did you get that
discipline from? Where'd you get that discipline from? Where does
that come from? It's just an eight you got it naturally.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
At the age of thirteen.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
I made a decision that I was going to your
Olympics at seventeen, you know. So it was just like
you got four years, four years to give to Joe All.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
You got four years to do right, you got four years.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
To be perfect. I just didn't want to mess that up.
So I kind of put it on myself and I
believe it. Also of my boxing posts too were like rest,
go home at night and get your sleep so you
can get the best six o'clock in the morning and
go for your morning around before school, you know, like
Jason was like, you can do that. You know, we
(22:56):
feel like gonna be in better shake. You want more win,
take your butt home at ten o'clock. And then when
you go to sleep and you get up in the morning,
you get up refreshed, you work out, then you go
to school, and then after school you could a box
and practice, you know, and I think him telling you
those things, I'll just kind of be like, yeah, you're right.
And once I said yeah, you're right, he's yeah, you're right,
(23:18):
this is what got to get done.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
That sounds like your piece was in You found your
piece and discipline. You found it in school, you found
it in the gym. You found it because you knew
what your purpose was. That to me feels very destined,
purposeful when you have that at such a young age.
I always talk to people on the podcast who do special,
(23:41):
extraordinary things, and they say they just knew from a
certain age that they had to do it. And it's
always very young, despite what's around them, despite the trauma.
And I don't want to give all this away because
I know and the fire inside you talk about it
talks about your upbringing. It talks about your relationship with
your first boxing coach and Chason, and how he was
your father's clast coach. In a lot of ways, you
(24:03):
all are no longer working together. And for the folks
who are listening after they see the film, because they'll
listen to this maybe after they see the film or
before they see the film, well, why are you all
at work together and are you open to possibly working
with him again.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
Well, you know, me and Jason when our first left
the Gold Meda together and then when I turned pro,
we won our first World tied together, you know, so
we got talking to work together in times that we.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
Didn't right now.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
You know, I haven't worked with Jason maybe in six years,
and I've been professionals maybe eight or something like that.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
A Jason is a great coach, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
And I mean the fall apart was at my younger age,
you know, was the whole rule was about the dating thing,
which album was eight years ago, so it was like,
can't tell him I can't date, you know.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
But he was just trying to protect me. You know,
if I can go back in time.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
And not not be rebellious against it and not let
me and not follow my heart, I definitely, if I
can go back in time, I would have chose to
not have a boyfriend ever until I was probably like
twenty five. I'm telling you the truth. Like I would
have just I would have just waited. I would have
(25:20):
waited it. But it's like when somebody's trying to make
you not do something, it's something always ain't like, oh well,
I'm gonna do it anyway, so if I can go
back in time, Lord Lord, No, I will not have
what for until I like twenty five.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I promise I wouldn't do it.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
That's hilarious.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
No, I'm so serious, like, I wouldn't do it. It's
been it's such a headache. It's such a headache. I
think about in those years.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Of seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
I've always had a boyfriend. So it's like it's been
a headache with this one headache, with that one headg
with that one I wish I just would never eat.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
So now you see what Jason, what Jason was trying
to say. You saw you know what Jason was trying to.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
Tell you sotely, you know, and I told him that.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
I was like, yeah, you was right, You're not but
I wish I you know, you and a young girl
say don't even listen to much.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
But you know, I think that me and Jason and
Jason in a great standing. He's training kids still in Flint, Michigan.
He got he's a great coach.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
And I'm professional doing my thing, a professional who got
us the movie together. But me and Jason, we are
too much alike you always, but hands he raised me,
you know. It's it's certain morals in me that he
put in me that he has in him. And sometimes
they clash, you know, but that that doesn't make him
a bad person. He just created a very very strong individual,
(26:40):
and he's a very strong individual.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
And sometimes you know, we don't get along, you know,
but I have a lot of.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Respect for him, and I'm always thankful to always giving him,
giving him his props.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
He taught me how to fight.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
He taught me how to bob, you know, and that's
something that you know, I'm always going to be grateful
for no matter who I work with. It and you
know it, if he ever wanted to, if we ever
we we ever take again, who knows, but if we did,
I'm quite sure it'd be just as successful as it
has ever been.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Yeah, it's interesting. The people who love you the most
always just try to protect you. But sometimes we don't
know how to go about it. You know, you love
somebody so much, and this is even in relationships. You
loved someone so much, sometimes you don't have the words
or the ability to love them the way they need
to be loved. During a certain time, and explain things
to them. It's just how all relationships go. You talk
(27:29):
about relationships and boyfriends and headaches. I'm going to tell
you something about how matter of fact you are as
you're dealing with the the remy.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Mah of it all.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
On Jamel's podcast, you would like you said, give me
a dollar. Did you see that post, that post Jamail
put up today about on politics?
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (27:47):
It was, it was. It was.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
It was very matter of fact. It wasn't I'm ready
to fight. You were just like this person put my
phone number on the internet. You're like, you were just
like I was.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
It's really not about It's really not about whatever she's
trying to make it about, you know, about oh this
is me and him, but da, everyone knows their situation
out there, allowed or whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
The case needs to be. Yeah, it's not. It's not
about fighting.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Over fighting over anything, because who in their right mind
will do will do something like that, fight over fight
over a man, period.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
That just is not my character. It's just the fact
that that she don't even notice.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
She don't know the situation, and she just put my
number out there and and then also create creative, fake,
fake text messages. So that's my that's my issue. I
don't know what else she has going on. I see
all these blogs and stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
It's not to clear that stuff up.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
I'm working on, uh, training for my fight and promoting
my movie, you know. And honestly, if I had a
boyfriend or a man, I've always had.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
A public relationship. Yeah you're like, it's just like yeah,
but if we're not, if we're not that you know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
It's like people just going around whatever that they're going
to run with and it's not really my place to
get in that.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
I think she needs to she.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Needs to do a whole lot of healing and she
needs to go figure her stuff out.
Speaker 3 (29:16):
But putting my number out there was just like very
very which is very very.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Hildish and then disturb all this stuff and she got it, man,
stop just stop it. She she got a man already.
And it's not who she's saying. It is like she
she's crazy. I don't know what's said.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Okay, so you are not with you don't have a boyfriend,
you're not in a relationship.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Is that what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
My private life is my private life. And if I
had a boyfriend, I would be public. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
That she said it, You're like, yes, in the story period.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Back in a moment, I think the way you're handling yourself,
and I don't know if you run that past pr
or anybody, the way you're handling yourself to me explains
a lot of why you are so successful at what
you do. You have decided to be who you are authentically.
(30:21):
Is there ever a time where you think it's too much?
Has this journey been hard for you because you make
it feel effortless?
Speaker 4 (30:30):
Has this journey been hard for you?
Speaker 3 (30:33):
It has been extremely yard.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
It's like more fame I get, the more money I get,
the more accomplishments I get, it gets harder. You know.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Right now I can say like I have had to
change with my.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Entire life, you know, And it's not because God has
told me to you know. And when you don't listen
to God, when God to do things at a certain time,
it can detoy your life.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
So I'm happy that in this season I listen to
what God I told you to do. God told me
to leave Flint two years ago, two.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Years so I lived in Flint the past two years.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
Depressed, said Mad all the time, getting ready for camps,
dealing with family drama, dealing with friends drama, being around
fake friends.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
I've dealt with this for the past two or three years.
When God being told.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Me, if you don't pack up your bags and go
and live where you've been wanting to live, where I
gave you the finances to live where you deserve to live,
where there's good energy and better energy, if you don't go,
and I just didn't want to do it.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
I didn't want to leave my family. I didn't want
to leave my current with my past relationship. I didn't
want to leave you know, I said my family. I
didn't want to leave my friends. It was so much
I'm like, God, I'm leaving behind.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
But then I moved and God just exposed everybody for
being who they are and what they are, and he
letting me know, this is why you need to get
away from them, because if.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
You want to stay, you would have been in jail.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
How do you have a soft middle?
Speaker 1 (32:02):
How do you still have a soft meddle with all
the heart around you because you have every reason to
be hard.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
I just create my all little world that I was
did and and I'm okay with that.
Speaker 3 (32:13):
I create my own lower world. Lie.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
I got some new friends now, all my little other
faith friends, the ones who call they stuff having to
be for me or growing apart whatever that bush needs,
you know, saying that, oh we never got into an argument,
but we're not friends anymore and you've changed and they
don't want to be friends the more, and just oh,
you do more stuff for your friends than.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
You do for your family.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
But whatever the case may be, all that fake people
that was doing that stuff.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
They're gone now.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
And it was a season where it was just me
and I and I spent months by myself, you know,
I spent months with myself, And not that it was easy.
It wasn't easy. But what I can say is that
it helped me realize that at the end of the day,
I put in so much hard work in the box
and that I deserve to have a happy life despite
(33:03):
people wanting to take everything from me and feeling entitled.
You know, I've never been entitled to nobody else, money, time, cars, nothing.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I always can't have to work for everything myself.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
People think that I worked that hard just to give
it all the way to them, and it's like, no,
this is the heart, this is the fruit of my labor,
not the fraud of your labor.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
So listen, the soft metal is now. I got new friends.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
I got new people that support me through everything I
go through, you know, all social media, all social media.
I got people that really care about me and love
the mess out of me more than people who I've
been off for years.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
And these are new people in my life. And I think,
say that I'm happy, I'll listen to God, and I
feel so much more.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I feel free, Like I went through depression for a
long time, and I was scared to tell people, you know,
I went through the social thoughts, got in the boxing
match and go and I would go through camp depressed,
and I would train hard and coach.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
They have to talk me off the ledge so.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
Many times, and and my assist they have to take
my phone, and just all types of stuff that I
went through for years, and people only see, Oh, she
on top, she win and she's a champion, she's the best,
she's the quote, and I'm and I'm struggling mentally this
whole time. Now I finally feel a lot better to
where I'm not struggling like that no more. And and
I don't feel the pressure to the world and people
(34:29):
constantly pulling a knee, and I'm making making everybody.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Else happy, but I'm not happy.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
I finally feel like how I think the greatest.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Woman of all times to feel.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
I feel free and I feel better and I and
I'm just happy about that.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
You feel free and you feel better, and you're happy
about that. You deserve that. It's interesting I think everybody
can relate to. When you start doing really well, the
people you know around you start to change. That's how
you decide who you're, who your people are. It happens
to your not alone. Like what you're saying feels very
much a shared experience. The one part that I wanted
(35:05):
to tell you was that you're like, there are people
who love me. You have so many people who love you.
People you don't even know who love you. There are
little brown girls from watching you right now, inspire by you,
happy to hear you say how beautiful you are and
what is wrong with everybody else? You gave me confidence
in this podcast. Imagine what you're doing for people day.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
In and day out.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
And I'm a good old grown woman, Like I love
the way she moved, I love her confidence. Let me
take some of this today. I need this. Thank you.
You are walking inspiration and I know it's not easy.
I ask because I want to know your techniques and
it is very similar to what made you great.
Speaker 4 (35:40):
You're very disciplined.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
It takes a minute, like we don't always get it
right away, but when we get it, we get it.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
No, you're right about that, and like I said, I'm
still wrong, but I'm happy with where I'm not.
Speaker 4 (35:50):
I'm happy for you.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
The movie comes out Christmas Day. The Fire inside Ryan,
Destiny is there. We talk about coach Jason, and we
talk about that relationship up, you talk about growing up.
I don't want to give any of any of it away,
but if you're inspired by this podcast, you most definitely
will be inspired by this movie. Clarissa Shields, thank you
so much for being you. You're needed.
Speaker 3 (36:11):
Thank you for having me appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
Naked Sports written and executive produced by me Kerry Champion,
produced by Jock Vice Thomas sound Design and mastered by
Dwayne Crawford. Associate producer Olubusayl Shabby. Naked Sports is a
part of the Black Effect podcast network in iHeartMedia
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