Claressa Shields told The DAZN Boxing Show that her first serious pushback in boxing came when she started demanding equality.
Shields, Alycia Baumgardner and Seniesa Estrada discussed their successes and struggles as part of International Womens’ Day, and world champion Shields described how she started boxing as a child.
“When I first started boxing it was due to a bet,” she began.
“One of my friends bet that I wouldn’t do a boxing programme for a week. When my dad told me he was a boxer, I really started so my dad could live some of his life through me.
“Boxing as a sport, I wanted to do something, I love my dad. I didn’t know that boxing would bring me so much joy.
"When I first walked into a gym, it was all boys in there and I remember seeing two guys in the ring sparring, and my first thought was, ‘I can’t wait to do that’.
“The first two months that’s when I got my first pushback, maybe my first two weeks. But I made my presence felt because I was the hardest worker, I had the big baggy clothes, the afro, I spoke just like them - I’d fight them out of the ring.
“I fit right in after I sparred. I fought someone who’d been in the gym for years and I beat him up. That gave me so much confidence, that there was no pushback. At the gym, I was the best fighter.”
While Shields is one of the best in the business, she said that when she turned professional she found resistance when she started demanding equal treatment on the business side of the sport.
“In the pros, when I turned pro, stuff was set in place for me, everything was going smooth,” she said.
“Until I wanted to be paid more than $350k, I want you to promote my fights, I want commercials, I want what the men get, that’s when I started getting pushback.”