Claressa Shields is a pound-for-pound star of boxing.
When I was a kid, I’d have loved there to be someone like her to look up to. There weren’t many strong women to aspire to. If they existed, they weren’t getting the airtime.
Shields is never meek or mild and doesn’t fit into the category of what people might expect women to be like. Some find her abrasive and too much. Calling yourself the “greatest woman of all time” – the GWOAT – attracts attention.
Having shared a ring with her and become friends afterwards, I can tell you Shields is not only a genuinely lovely person, but so often misunderstood.
She cares as much about helping her local community and women’s boxing as she does her own career.
There is no doubt she is a pioneer for the sport, but she is not given the credit she deserves.
She is also fighter whose skills and ring IQ are unmatched and on Saturday Shields will face Maricela Cornejo in Detroit. I’m so excited to see her back and happy she’s being given a proper homecoming. She deserves it.
Why Shields is misunderstood
Shields’ win over Savannah Marshall in London eight months ago was huge in showcasing just how good she is.
Everyone thought Marshall was going to end Shields’ undefeated record and knock her out. But Shields, in her opponent’s backyard, silenced the critics and put all that to bed.
The UK wasn’t quite ready for Shields in the build-up. She had already proven she has a reason to be confident, but people in the UK saw it as arrogance.
When you meet her in person, she’s lovely, especially when you consider what a tough upbringing and childhood she had.
I have been to where Shields is from. It’s a very poor area, but she now uses her position to do so much for her community.
For example, there is a message behind the blue braids in her hair – to bring more awareness to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
She donates part of her purse to help people in her hometown, and runs boxing clubs for the youth.
She is so passionate about changing the mindset and direction of people when they are young rather than trying to fix the problem when they are older.
When you get to know her, she is an amazing person. She’s just very wary about letting her guard down in front of people. They can be so critical and negative because of her self-confidence.
How polar opposites became friends
Shields and I may be friends now but that definitely didn’t happen straight away.
We had a fight in 2018. She was meant to be fighting Christina Hammer, who pulled out with sickness. I was Hammer’s sparring partner and took the fight to test myself against someone who thought they were the best.
There was a lot of head-to-heads in the lead-up to the fight. It was a great build-up because we genuinely didn’t like each other.
We laid it all out for 10 rounds and Shields won on points.
She was talking to me in the ring; I had never encountered that before. She was telling me to “throw it again” and taunting me into doing stuff. She would shake her head and say “nope, that didn’t hurt”.
I’m trying not to get punched in the face and she’s having a chat.
After the fight I was signed by Shields’ manager and promotional company. About five months later we sparred together and at the end we fist-bumped.
She told me “you’ve got better” and I replied “yeah, you’ve chilled”.
We’re completely different people from polar opposite backgrounds. I grew up on a Scottish farm in the middle of nowhere. She grew up in Flint.
But we soon realised we have a lot in common: mindset to training, focus, determination and drive to be the best, love for the community and growing the sport of boxing.
Jonas-Shields more likely than Marshall rematch
Shields has a late change of opponent on Saturday but that won’t faze her one bit. She was supposed to face Hanna Gabriels, who then tested positive for a banned substance. Her promoter says it came from applying medication to her dog.
I was looking forward to that match-up. The first time they fought was the only time Shields has been dropped, even though she won the fight convincingly. But I’m glad it’s off as I don’t want to see my friend up against someone who has failed a doping test.
I expect Shields to beat Cornejo. Looking further down the line, a rematch with Marshall has been talked about, but I’m not sure it will happen.
Shields is up for the rematch and is adamant it takes place in the United States, but I don’t think Marshall will travel there.
It’s a shame because we all want to see them get it on again, to see if Marshall can work out a different game plan, although I think the outcome would be the same as last time.
Anyway, Marshall has her hands full against Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Manchester on 1 July. Franchon is the unified world super-middleweight champion and that’s a very difficult fight for Marshall, especially off the back of a loss.
Instead, I could see Shields dropping down to super-welterweight and fighting another Briton.
Terri Harper is the WBA champion, but Natasha Jonas, who holds the three other belts in the division, is the more likely opponent.
Hannah Rankin was speaking to BBC Sport’s Kal Sajad.
