View full sizeFlint boxer Claressa Shields calls her trainer Jason Crutchfield after her match. It was the first time in the six years that they have been working together that he wasn't working in her corner. FLINT, MI – Some people were shocked when Flint boxer Claressa Shields claimed gold at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in mid-February, but she truly shook up the world with her latest performances.
Shields ran through Canada's Mary Spencer -- the world's No. 1 ranked women's fighter -- on Saturday night in the finals of the American Boxing Confederation's Women's Elite Continental Championships.
She picked up the 75-kilogram title by outpointing Spencer 27-14 for the victory in Cornwall, Ont.
"I've dreamed about fighting Mary Spencer so many times," Shields said. "I've known about her since I was 14 years old. I saw her fight once when I was in Canada and she boxed the same way then that she does now."
Spencer was a three-time world champion and nine-time Canadian titleholder.
"I think that Claressa fought a great fight, and at the same time, I think you learn more from a loss than you do a win," Spencer told thestar.com after the loss.
"It's been over a year since I've had a loss and it's about time that I had a learning experience like this. So it's good for me at this point of the game — before the worlds and before the Olympics — to get that loss under my belt."
View full sizeClaressa Shields (left) defeated Brazil's Roseli Feitosa (right) in the semifinals on Friday, April 6, 2012 in Cornwall, Ont. Shields (25-0, 14 KOs) studied Spencer long before the tournament.
She also used every bit of information that people passed on to her from other fighters in her game plan to defeat her heavily favored opponent.
"Somebody told me that Mary has really good timing," Shields said. "A whole bunch of girls also told me that if Mary Spencer feels that you're giving her problems, then she's going to talk trash to you in the ring and she got to talking to me 45 seconds into the first round and that's when I knew I had her."
Brazil's Roseli Feitosa fell to Shields, 29-11, in the semifinals on Friday.
This event marked the first time that Shields has gone up against international competitors in the open class. It also was the first time that her trainer, Jason Crutchfield, wasn't working in her corner.
Crutchfield watched from the crowd in the finals -- cheering her on -- as the Olympic coaches worked as her primary instructors for the tourney.
She admitted to being nervous before the opening bell of her first fight, but those feelings dissipated after the initial blows were thrown.
"At the trials, my goal was to beat the No. 1 girl in America and I did that," said Shields. "Then my goal was to beat Mary Spencer, the No. 1 girl in the world, and I beat her. So now my game plan is to continue to work real hard to where I know everything it takes to beat myself.
"For a girl to beat me, I need to know what she has to do," she added. "I want to establish all of that with myself so I can be like there's no girl out there but me and if there is no other me, I will never get beat."
The next stop on the agenda for Shields is the 2012 Women's World Championships in Qinhuangdao, China May 9-20 but first she has to report to Colorado Springs from April 22 to May 3 for training camp to get ready for the tourney.
If Shields places in the top eight of the middleweight class at the World Championships, she will be representing the United States on the first U.S. Women's Boxing team at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London.
Despite all of the success, she still hasn't forgotten about where she came from. Shields remains humble and credits God plus the direction of Crutchfield for all of her triumphs.
"People speak of the talent a lot when it comes to me, but God blessed me with talent in athleticism, listening and heart," Shields said.