Claressa Shields:
Boxing. United States.
Rio Olympics.
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Life in Flint hasn’t always been so great, though. For years, it was pretty horrible for Shields.
She had no bed growing up and often slept on the floor. Her father, Clarence, was in prison for seven of the first nine years of Claressa’s life. There was little or no food in her home, she said.And then there were the men. For the longest time, Shields couldn’t bear to think of all those men who’d trekked through her home and done despicable things. She’d pushed it to the recesses of her memory, determined never to talk about what had occurred.
As she gained prominence in boxing – she began at 11 when her father told her about Muhammad Ali and how Ali’s daughter, Laila, became the only one of Ali’s children to box – she did plenty of interviews.
Never, though, would she talk about all those men.“I was getting asked about my childhood a lot once I started getting interviewed, but I just shortened the story,” she said. “I didn’t really want to tell ‘em much.”
The tone of her voice, from bubbly and effervescent, has changed. As she discusses the men, she speaks slowly, somberly. This isn’t what she wants to talk about, but she knows she has to talk about it.
More-@
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympic-boxing-gold-medalist-claressa-shields-221434078.html
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NOTE: Claressa Shields will fight on wed, August 17th 12:00 “CENTRAL TIME.”
I’ll be at work but I WILL record it to watch.
Support Claressa & Flint Michigan on the 17th.
