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Episode 9 of BridgeBizness features the three-division world champ, Claressa Shields as she preps for her next fight against Canada’s Marie-Eve Dicaire.
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BRIDGEBIZNESS: Claressa Shields | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
https://youtu.be/TZuKzsLjCsg
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0:00
man ladies and gentlemen what can i say
0:02
from gold medals the world championship
0:04
belt's the greatest of all time she
0:06
calls herself the quote ladies and
0:08
gentlemen she's with us right now
0:11
the one and only caressa shields is here
0:13
baby yeah
0:14
bridge
0:19
claressa welcome to bridge business you
0:22
you are first woman
0:23
you're making history again yes you're
0:25
making history again
0:26
you're the first woman on bridge
0:28
business wow i'm honored
0:30
i'm honored thank you guys for having me
0:33
absolutely absolutely you're looking
0:35
you're looking great you look in shape
0:36
champ you your body looked like it
0:38
scoped it slightly differently what's
0:40
going on with you right now physically
0:42
uh physically i haven't ate meat in over
0:45
a year
0:46
only thing i eat is fish and then uh
0:49
just getting ready for this camp i
0:51
believe i was supposed to fight this
0:52
girl in may of last year
0:54
been postponed all the way till now
0:56
until march and uh i went from bunch i
0:58
went i went from bench press and 135 to
1:00
bench press in one
1:02
185 so i've been adding on a lot of
1:05
power
1:05
a lot of muscle uh building on my abs so
1:09
my body's gonna look completely
1:10
different for these five things look
1:11
before
1:13
that training is that just a whole new
1:15
lifestyle for you or was it because you
1:17
were doing the mma training that helped
1:19
shift the way you trained i can say it
1:22
was a lifestyle before
1:24
the before the mma started but with mma
1:27
training
1:27
has activated different muscles that i
1:29
haven't ever used in my life
1:31
you know just just in the hip flexors
1:33
with the
1:34
with the kicking a lot of my back
1:35
muscles and arm muscles just from the
1:37
wrestling
1:38
and just from being on the ground a lot
1:39
of muscles in my legs that
1:41
um i don't have to use for boxing that i
1:42
have to use for mma so
1:44
it's kind of a it's kind of a
1:47
it's a mixture of all those things
1:49
boxing mma also just a lifestyle
1:52
is this the hardest fight is this the
1:54
hardest you train for a fight as far as
1:56
for the fights that you had is this the
1:57
hardest you trained us
1:58
it's just a different way of training
2:00
i've always trained hard for my fight
2:02
whether the girl was considered a threat
2:04
or
2:05
you know rather um she was considered a
2:08
beast i've always
2:09
uh trained train my heart as i try to up
2:11
it every uh camp
2:12
like this camp i've definitely uh
2:16
outdone myself yeah
2:19
hey you know what i want to take it back
2:21
for real what is it like growing up in
2:23
flint michigan because i see a young
2:25
lady like you
2:26
you're strong you have a a lot of energy
2:28
you're you're
2:30
well motivated and you know to be a
2:32
boxer from you know flint michigan i
2:34
know a few people from flint michigan
2:35
you know
2:36
i know kelly mike mules a couple of
2:38
people david darrell's a boxer from
2:39
flint michigan
2:40
you're from boxing what made you want to
2:42
start boxing you know coming from flint
2:44
michigan what was that
2:46
um it was motivation from my dad um
2:49
honestly he
2:50
he had been in prison twice he did a
2:51
seven-year bid when i was two got out
2:53
when i was nine
2:54
and uh one day he would just we were
2:56
riding around
2:57
in his van and he just he was super
2:59
stressed out and he explained to me he
3:01
said if i was stuck to what i was
3:02
passionate about
3:03
i wouldn't be in this situation and the
3:05
situation he was going through was he
3:06
couldn't get hired for a job because he
3:08
was an ex-convict
3:10
um and i asked him you know what were
3:12
you passionate about
3:14
and he said boxing so really at the time
3:17
when i asked that question
3:19
whatever he would have said i would have
3:21
done right so
3:22
so i'm glad that it was boxing because
3:24
um i was destined for the sport
3:27
and uh and me you know wanted to do it
3:29
for my dad just gave me extra motivation
3:31
when i was a kid
3:32
but my dad didn't want me to box he told
3:34
me at the age of 11 years old he said
3:36
you are too pretty to box
3:39
you are just too pretty you're you're
3:41
and you're talented and a lot of other
3:43
things
3:44
but you're not a woman sport and that
3:45
was what my dad told me
3:47
um but he signed me up uh with the hopes
3:50
that i would get beat up and quit
3:51
and he'd just be able to say at least
3:53
i'll let you try it right
3:55
and um it just seemed like he let me try
3:58
it and it was the best thing that he did
4:00
for for me and for and for our family
4:04
but were you rough growing up though
4:05
like did you like to you know
4:07
do a lot of rough things you had to be
4:09
cause boxing ain't something you just
4:10
pick up and just be like yo you know put
4:11
the gloves on
4:12
i thought was you like playing rough and
4:14
stuff like that my dad
4:16
my dad didn't really know me like i said
4:18
he'd been in prison for seven years
4:20
and um he didn't know that i was beating
4:22
girls up at school i was fighting boys
4:24
i was playing flag football at school
4:26
like my dad didn't know any of this
4:29
um sorry did i beep out you're good
4:32
you're back okay um but my dad just knew
4:36
that i was a crybaby and that i was
4:37
super sensitive that's all my dad knew
4:39
you know so when it was like you want a
4:41
box like i think my dad looked at me was
4:43
like
4:44
you don't got no heart you know because
4:46
i was always crying and super sensitive
4:48
but he didn't know that i had my own
4:50
little kid like
4:51
you know beating people up and stuff you
4:53
didn't know that um i don't think that
4:56
my dad really knew that i was
4:57
taking boxing serious until maybe i was
5:00
about
5:01
13 after boxing for two years he came to
5:03
my first boxing match
5:05
and after my fight after i won uh he was
5:08
crying
5:09
now i didn't know what he was crying for
5:10
him and my dad was actually the first
5:13
person to tell me
5:14
you know you're the greatest boxer that
5:16
i've ever seen in my life like you box
5:18
way better than i did like
5:20
you're the best my dad was crying and um
5:23
that kind of
5:24
lit another fire in me it was like you
5:27
know i wonder if
5:28
if i can make my dad cry who else is
5:30
crying about how great i am
5:32
wow that's that's that's dope that's
5:35
dope
5:35
it's a lot of your opponents that are
5:37
crying
5:40
how great you are uh you got a big fight
5:42
man this is the super welterweight
5:44
championship about
5:46
marie eve uh dc
5:49
uh from if i said that correctly uh from
5:52
canada she's undefeated
5:55
yeah you know and you know a lot of
5:57
people may argue
5:58
is claressa even focused now since she
6:01
talked about the mma we see her
6:03
um in the ring and doing what uh you ms
6:06
holmes we see her training
6:08
with mma but how focused is she for this
6:10
fight and is this a
6:11
opportunity for this young lady to come
6:14
and take your glory
6:15
um i'm sure you've heard some of that
6:18
how do you respond to that
6:20
of course you know to everybody who's
6:22
you know worried about if i'm focused
6:24
make sure you tune into the pay-per-view
6:25
fight
6:26
www.fighttv payton you know
6:29
29.95 you'll be able to find out what
6:31
i've been focused on but
6:33
um i like to call myself the focus
6:35
master whatever is in front of me
6:37
i focus on it like i've never been
6:40
thrown off my square due to anything
6:42
there's if there's something or somebody
6:44
um
6:45
trying to distract me i always find a
6:47
way to
6:48
um to not let it be to not let it be a
6:51
distraction i block people
6:53
um i cut my phone off i i delete social
6:57
media
6:57
and i really focus on what needs to be
6:59
focused on um the last
7:02
the last six weeks have been nothing but
7:05
uh
7:06
marie either care i've actually put my
7:08
mma boxing my mma training on hold for
7:10
right now
7:11
but right after the fight i'll be right
7:13
back at jackson wing gym like
7:15
i'm getting ready for my first mma fight
7:17
june
7:18
uh in the middle of june so um
7:21
people that are you know uh who are
7:23
worried about that
7:25
that's okay just know that i'm great
7:26
enough to do both and now and i'll show
7:28
them
7:29
up on march 5th let me ask you about
7:32
that because
7:33
what if you if you ask nunez to come in
7:35
the boxing ring she gonna say well i
7:37
don't box i'll do mma
7:39
you know if you ask uh uh floyd to go
7:42
into the ml
7:43
mma ring mixed martial arts not a box
7:45
you got to come do boxing
7:46
folks don't believe you can do both
7:49
great
7:50
i want to ask you two-part question
7:52
number one
7:53
as a boxer as a woman who's a boxer
7:56
is it so hard to really make a great
7:58
living at it
7:59
that is necessary to take on another
8:02
sport
8:05
um boxing is a woman's black
8:08
is a great sport i feel like i've
8:09
accomplished a lot in it but i think
8:11
something that
8:12
people think about me going in may is
8:13
that they forget the big part
8:15
and it's the biggest thing to me is my
8:17
youth you know that's something i take
8:19
a lot of advantage of people i talk
8:21
about james tony
8:22
you know trying when he was 42 when he
8:24
was retired or they want to talk about
8:26
other fighters who did it and weren't
8:28
successful in it and it really hasn't
8:30
been many
8:31
but for me i'm 25 years old um
8:34
i haven't even hit the prime of my
8:36
boxing career yet like i'm successful
8:38
and i've accomplished a lot of things i
8:39
broke a whole lot of records but
8:42
i haven't like my body hasn't reached
8:44
his peak of how strong i can be how hard
8:46
i can hit how
8:47
fast i can be it hasn't reached his peak
8:49
yet
8:50
so uh whenever that year comes when i
8:52
reach my peak i think right now is the
8:54
great time to actually train for mma
8:57
and preparedness about having a game
8:59
plan i think that
9:01
my game plan for mma isn't just to go
9:03
over there and have one fight and then
9:04
like look i tried it
9:06
i did all right and it's over i signed a
9:08
three-year contract with the
9:10
uh with the psl that's a very lucrative
9:12
deal um so it's gonna be big it's gonna
9:14
be big
9:15
checks and big paydays all 2021. yes
9:18
and um and i'm really just
9:21
focused on humbling myself
9:24
and to know because i've always been a
9:27
humble person but
9:28
i've already acknowledged that i don't
9:29
know how to wrestle i don't know
9:31
judicial or i don't know kickboxing
9:34
and when i hold myself you know way back
9:37
in like november
9:39
and i did that and then i went to the
9:40
jackson when you were with like some of
9:42
the greatest coaches and some of the
9:43
greatest fighters
9:45
um i was able to start from the bottom
9:47
in excel
9:48
very very quickly because of my
9:50
athleticism
9:51
um how i just accepted that i don't know
9:53
nothing so whatever they
9:54
taught me i just mixed it in with my
9:57
boxing and we've been able to get some
9:58
great things like i'm already kickboxing
10:00
sparring
10:01
already um i'm already i'm already
10:05
avoiding takedowns i'm already taking
10:07
people down
10:08
i know how i do a few chokes and i'm
10:10
already drilling off my back
10:12
just in case if i end up on the ground
10:14
it's not like oh this is the foreign
10:15
language to me
10:16
i can understand what i'm supposed to do
10:19
and uh that's just what it's about it's
10:20
about being
10:21
a being smart learning and just building
10:24
off of what you learned and keep going
10:25
and keep going and i mean it's drilling
10:28
it's drilling grilling drilling and
10:30
that's what i've been doing for the past
10:32
you know november december january
10:34
february you know i
10:35
actually just stopped in february
10:37
because i had the boxing match coming up
10:39
but after the boxing match it's right
10:40
back to to jackson when you jump for
10:43
paying for my mma site
10:46
preparing for that fight i see you up in
10:47
the mountains how you get up in the
10:50
mountains and stay so focused throwing
10:51
them jabs and kicks up there come on now
10:53
you wasn't you wasn't a little shook up
10:55
there throwing them jabs and kicks
10:57
that was cold as hell what do you
10:59
[Laughter]
11:03
[Music]
11:07
he was focused though like you wasn't
11:08
even shook at a height or nothing i'm
11:10
looking like
11:11
how she get up there i'm like yo she
11:12
looks so focused up there i'm like she
11:14
ain't shook
11:15
from flint to the appalachians
11:18
so speaking of boxing too when it comes
11:21
to sparring how do you pick out sparring
11:23
partners for you far as like you know
11:25
you you up for a fight
11:26
how is it that you have do you spar guys
11:28
is there guys that you spoil
11:31
yeah have to um there's no disrespect to
11:33
the women boxing community i love them
11:34
but
11:35
i'm just a little bit too strong a
11:36
little bit too fast and uh just to test
11:39
my strengths and to test
11:40
my actual um when
11:43
i always have to fight against me and
11:45
some guys fight against is
11:47
anthony dorell um andre dorrell they're
11:50
like my family from flint but i've been
11:52
sparring them
11:53
you know for years now uh darion lawson
11:56
was
11:57
their nephew i sparred with leon lawson
11:59
i missed a couple other guys who i
12:01
sparred
12:02
um it's an olympic silver medalist named
12:05
danny r yousafar and me and no amy
12:09
and me and himself he's the olympic gold
12:10
medalist so i always have to spar
12:12
against
12:13
um against the men but that's just to
12:16
help me be best
12:17
prepared um but i will say
12:22
i spy against women maybe two percent
12:24
and that's but but i can't
12:27
you know actually hit them the way that
12:29
i want to because
12:30
it's sparring you know sparring is work
12:32
but even with the men
12:33
even if i shake up a minute i always
12:35
back off because it's sparring
12:37
you know and we actually get to work on
12:38
something you know so that's kind of
12:40
just
12:41
how i take it i could never be as
12:43
serious and smart
12:44
as i am in a real boxing match it
12:46
doesn't matter who i'm supposed to use
12:48
well you you shook up one of the dorrell
12:50
brothers is what saying
12:51
you rattled that clock but it's been
12:54
it's been
12:55
it's been a couple guys so i've actually
12:56
put i've actually put a beating on and
12:58
it's on and it's on youtube and stuff
13:00
from one
13:01
point up on youtube but i i've never
13:04
posted
13:05
highlights of me sparring any of my milk
13:07
male male counterparts because
13:09
to me it's just chatty you know it's
13:11
like if your spine partner is supposed
13:14
to be working on something specifically
13:15
for you
13:16
and you're working on something and you
13:19
and you let's say you do
13:20
hit your spine partner with a big shot i
13:22
never understood
13:23
like why you posted because your spine
13:25
partner is there to help you
13:27
you know and you're there to help your
13:29
spine partner so i never really
13:30
understood like the highlights and
13:32
people cutting up and putting certain
13:34
parts of sparring
13:35
because it could be a day where i'm
13:37
where i'm working on a jab
13:39
and that's all i'm working on right but
13:41
you got me working on the jab and you
13:43
don't slip and come with a right hand
13:44
hook
13:45
and people are wondering like dang she
13:46
didn't even try to hit him back and like
13:48
yeah because today i'm working on a jab
13:50
you know my right hand isn't including
13:51
it so sparring is
13:53
um very very tricky but some people love
13:56
love to just post it
13:57
which i find kind of weird so
14:01
speaking of comparisons uh let's say
14:03
last week there was a comparison of you
14:05
and canelo it was a
14:06
uh thing going around instagram which
14:08
i'll hit y'all hitting the bag at the
14:10
same time
14:11
hey let me tell you something i hit the
14:12
bag a couple of times after seeing you
14:13
hit the bag
14:14
i said you know what i ain't gonna post
14:16
my video for real i said i can't even
14:18
post
14:19
i can't even post my video after seeing
14:20
you hit the bag i was very i mean
14:22
i've always been impressed about your
14:23
boxing skills but i was very impressed
14:25
by the way you hit the bag and
14:27
especially with him on top
14:28
and they showing him hit the bag i was
14:29
like hey man that's the same weight
14:31
class
14:32
i mean this young lady is hitting very
14:33
hard because you wasn't playing with
14:34
that
14:35
how did you feel about that comparison
14:36
when you start seeing guys and you know
14:39
with instagram saying wow look at these
14:41
fighters right here
14:42
i mean i mean canelo was a great fighter
14:45
he's a four-time division world champion
14:47
i'm a three-time division world champion
14:49
uh i also have two olympic gold medals
14:51
and he has zero
14:52
but um i think that i have posted that
14:55
video to show them
14:56
because they because they always look at
14:58
women boxes that's weak and
14:59
i guess we punch wild and that we punch
15:01
slow and all these things
15:03
but i'm one of the most skillful boxers
15:04
in the in the world
15:07
you know and um i wanted to showcase
15:09
that and then that video got a
15:11
over 250 000 views or whatever everybody
15:14
wants to show that um
15:17
just as great as he is i'm like i'm just
15:19
as great and i believe that
15:21
um i may even be a split second faster
15:24
but
15:24
um hey uh i was able to show that power
15:27
show that speed
15:29
and just show that women aren't in the
15:31
sport you know what i mean like we're
15:33
here to stay in that i won the top dog
15:35
so i'm happy
15:36
that he liked the video and he said that
15:38
he watched my fights and he's
15:40
um inspired by me you know so i was
15:43
happy to see his response
15:45
and uh and i'm just excited for the
15:47
fight on march 5th but
15:49
but that was great though yeah i'ma
15:51
write that down clarissa shields says
15:53
she's
15:54
faster than canelo alvarez okay let me
15:57
mark that down right there horse mark
15:59
that down okay you heard that first of
16:00
bridge business
16:02
i i want to i want to ask you this
16:03
claressa for so many reasons i think
16:05
you've been so great for the
16:06
support of boxing especially um as a
16:10
woman who boxes and to me um other than
16:13
you know there's been a lot of famous
16:14
women boxers laila ali to me was that at
16:17
the top of that and then you've been the
16:18
most famous since layla ali
16:21
in my opinion your father once said that
16:24
boxing isn't a woman's sport
16:26
you know you post a picture of you
16:28
hitting you know simultaneously with
16:30
canelo to show folks that it is this he
16:32
whole event is a superwoman
16:35
called superwoman a boxing celebration
16:37
the celebration of women
16:39
you indirectly have become an activist
16:42
in a sense
16:42
for women in boxing and i don't think
16:45
that was necessarily your plan
16:46
i don't know but you kind of wear you
16:48
wear the shoes well
16:50
right and since you've come out and
16:52
expressed the plight of
16:54
many women i mean you represent your own
16:56
voice but i'm sure that the experiences
16:58
are similar
16:59
over the years you've been on our show
17:01
you've always stood up for women in
17:02
boxing you've been saying look at us how
17:04
come we're not getting paid as much
17:06
you know how come we don't get the same
17:08
kind of billing the marquee i don't even
17:10
know what the dressing room is like for
17:11
a woman
17:12
if it's the same or not so since then
17:14
have you seen what kind of strides have
17:16
you seen boxing make that's
17:18
made it probably better for a woman
17:20
athlete who wants to come into boxing
17:22
and then what kind of strides you think
17:23
it still needs to make
17:26
well i just want to you know rewind back
17:28
to 2016
17:29
when i was the first woman to buy some
17:32
premium uh
17:33
cable up on showtime be the main event
17:35
um they hadn't had
17:37
women boxing on ever to be on premium
17:39
cable until i came
17:41
um so when boxing kind of kind of died
17:44
off you know 2001
17:46
layla ali versus jackie fraser did a
17:47
hundred thousand pay-per-view buys
17:50
and since and since they [ __ ] review
17:52
no woman boxing has [ __ ] review
17:54
until now and then it's me doing it
17:56
again so
17:57
i will say uh 2016 i think i made some
18:00
huge strides i thought
18:02
i fought the main event on show time i
18:04
believe six times i fought for the
18:06
undisputed title
18:07
i became three-time division world
18:08
champion faster than any other box in
18:10
history
18:11
i had a all access uh done on me for
18:15
show
18:15
time just so many things that women
18:18
weren't getting
18:19
that i was getting and by the way my
18:21
locker room is fantastic for every fight
18:24
okay hello
18:28
that's the thing that i feel like laxing
18:30
women's boxing is that
18:32
the top women like like they say myself
18:35
and layla i leave when we're at the top
18:37
right
18:38
we don't feel some of us don't feel the
18:40
need to to speak about the other women
18:43
right to say okay well i'm getting this
18:45
but why is this other girl who's a world
18:47
champion
18:48
only getting paid this much money or or
18:51
how come she isn't
18:52
fighting on tv right and um i think that
18:55
our sport
18:56
has left to bring the other girls up you
18:58
know i would love that
19:00
if the same 100 000 people that tune in
19:02
to jackie fraser versus
19:04
layla ali i wish i knew who those fans
19:06
were because i would just add them to my
19:08
pay-per-view
19:09
along with my fans and then they'll be
19:11
able to see that women's boxing is still
19:13
alive and we can keep building off those
19:15
numbers but those numbers have
19:17
been long gone for uh for 20 years yeah
19:20
so we don't know if those people are
19:21
still
19:22
fans of boxing and they know that boxing
19:23
still exists for women
19:25
you know we don't know we just know that
19:28
in the last
19:28
five years i know that i feel like i
19:31
feel like i've been carrying the torch
19:33
of a woman blocking pretty well but
19:36
there's
19:37
still so many things that has to be done
19:39
and
19:40
one thing that has to be done i feel
19:41
like we need to have our own platform
19:43
you know we need to stop waiting on
19:45
these networks that are male dominated
19:47
to give us opportunities because
19:48
if it's up to them we'll never fight
19:52
and we'll never get paid and we will
19:54
never
19:55
um it will never be good enough right
19:58
but we need to show that we are good
20:00
enough because we are and we can do that
20:02
on our own boxing network
20:04
um showtime said to me that i wasn't big
20:06
enough to be a perfume star
20:08
um that i didn't have enough followers
20:11
or or
20:11
or or enough people didn't know me and
20:14
i'm the most known woman boxer in boxing
20:17
yeah you know right now and i have 380
20:20
000
20:20
organic um instagram followers and
20:23
just over my whole social network maybe
20:25
over
20:26
750 000 followers uh just worldwide i
20:30
got a movie coming out about me i have a
20:32
documentary already out about me a t-rex
20:35
and um i feel like i'm doing more than
20:38
any other man in boxing is doing as far
20:41
as in my accomplishments how i keep my
20:42
face in the media
20:44
i'm constantly on different talk shows i
20:46
was on the titan show with the rock
20:48
yeah you know it's just so many things
20:49
that i've been doing
20:51
and um and the men aren't so so when
20:53
they speak of you know these numbers and
20:55
things like that
20:56
i always question like what exactly um
21:00
which part of that um that i'm not good
21:03
enough it's because i don't have a penis
21:04
or or is it because like what like what
21:06
exactly is it because it communicated
21:08
numbers because i had some of the
21:10
biggest numbers on
21:11
on showtime i have 430k views from my
21:14
fight against hannah gabriel's
21:15
and the men who have fighting now are
21:17
getting 125
21:19
150 000 views but my numbers were never
21:22
that low on showtime
21:24
do you think uh because when you look at
21:26
mixed martial arts
21:28
if i say ronda rousey people know who
21:30
she are who she is holly holm
21:32
if you say nunez people know who she is
21:34
and that's
21:36
you know that's just three names out
21:37
through out there you it's not
21:39
in boxing the the women aren't promoted
21:42
as such
21:43
what a marquee name so it's usually just
21:45
that one person i mean there's other
21:47
boxers
21:48
obviously but it's your name that brings
21:51
attention do you think the sport of
21:52
boxing
21:54
has um been lackluster in in promoting
21:57
the women
21:58
in that in boxing because when you think
22:00
of mma
22:01
we know a lot of these women fighters we
22:03
know their names
22:04
i think well i know
22:07
in mma that dana white has
22:11
fully believed that his business will
22:14
flourish if he
22:15
give the same opportunities to the women
22:17
that he gives to the men
22:19
he's the smartest man in combat sports
22:21
because he's the first to do that the
22:23
first to believe that and that's why ufc
22:25
is one of the biggest brands
22:29
biggest combat sports that there is it's
22:31
one of the biggest sports
22:32
under football in basketball and maybe
22:35
baseball but then right under is ufc
22:38
in mma so i would say that um
22:42
boxing has been
22:45
boxing has been lacking because all they
22:47
have to do
22:48
is put women's boxing on all the cards
22:52
every boxing
22:53
show that they have should have at least
22:54
one woman fighter
22:56
whether she's the main event whether
22:58
she's the cole man event rather she's a
22:59
tv opener
23:01
and that's all it takes we don't want to
23:04
just have a woman car you don't want to
23:06
say forget the men
23:08
we're saying add us to that and that
23:10
would help build up our fan base our
23:12
numbers bring more attention to our
23:13
sport
23:15
and people and people will start paying
23:16
attention like look it's another female
23:18
boxing match on it
23:20
but boxing just cannot do that
23:23
the only network right now who is doing
23:25
that is the zone which is kind of uk
23:27
based
23:27
but there's no network here in america
23:29
that is constantly putting on women's
23:31
boxing and
23:32
it was showtime and the only reason that
23:35
showtime had other women
23:36
on the car that i was fighting on
23:38
fighting up on tv
23:40
was because i would say something to
23:42
them i would say hey
23:44
you know um my opponent
23:47
she got fans and everything but let's
23:49
help build her fan base up so
23:50
me and her fight it could be more
23:52
viewers so that was my way of getting
23:54
other women on the card
23:57
and they were listening and that's how
23:59
me me and christina hammer end up
24:00
fighting
24:01
that's how me and hannah gabriel ended
24:03
up fighting and christina was on the
24:04
undercard
24:05
i'm always gonna have a woman undercard
24:07
fight under me to lead up to our fights
24:10
and um i've been able to help some girls
24:12
build up their brand
24:14
uh build up their fan base but
24:17
um it it just it just takes more than
24:20
one
24:21
it just takes more than one athlete more
24:22
than one fight card to get the job done
24:25
and i feel like uh whichever promoter
24:27
whichever network
24:29
uh get behind the women and really
24:32
pay us and put us on tv and give us
24:34
equal promotion equal fight time
24:36
he's going to be a very very rich man
24:38
because women's boxing is popping
24:40
just like and i feel like they're going
24:43
to make me hit the lottery for 10
24:45
million and then
24:46
once i once i come out with the all
24:48
women's boxing network
24:50
they're not going to be able to i'm like
24:53
i like that bridge business though i
24:55
like that you got it first so all
24:56
women's network
24:58
uh real quick hannah gabriel's
25:01
i never saw you go down yeah
25:05
you know that that shocked me when i saw
25:07
you you hit the canvas
25:09
what was that like for you like what
25:11
what through your head did you
25:13
do you think oh [ __ ] this girl might be
25:16
bringing more than i thought
25:18
like what was that oh okay i've never
25:20
been knocked down
25:21
i thought she caught me with a punch
25:22
where where my feet was off balance and
25:25
i went down to the ground and you
25:26
watched the film i looked at the ground
25:29
both sides i'm like and i thought to
25:30
myself what the hell are we doing down
25:32
here
25:32
yeah um but all i did was take a deep
25:35
breath get up i wasn't wobble
25:37
and when i went back to the corner uh
25:40
my uh my coach was cool as a cucumber
25:43
he's like hey y'all right i'm like yeah
25:44
i'm good
25:45
and um he was like uh next one i want
25:48
you to go out there and do exactly what
25:50
you're
25:50
doing um you know just watch out for the
25:53
uppercut and i'm like all right cool
25:54
i went out there and i and i won the
25:56
next two rounds and then i put a beating
25:58
on her for the rest of the fight
25:59
okay damn it all right
26:03
but it didn't it didn't shake me up in
26:06
nowhere for him never
26:07
never did i think about oh should i get
26:09
it back up or anything like that it was
26:11
more of a
26:12
you know what i gotta i gotta keep my
26:14
cool and i get pissed off because
26:16
um she got some punching power but i was
26:19
able to show her that i had boxing
26:20
skills punching power
26:22
and i was able to take whatever she gave
26:24
and i was able to give it out double and
26:26
triple so
26:27
i'm looking forward to having a rematch
26:28
with her some uh sometime down the line
26:30
also if she wants it if she wants to
26:33
smoke
26:34
okay i agree with you about social media
26:37
because i follow you on social media and
26:39
i you know i follow your youtube page
26:40
and stuff like that
26:42
and there's a lot of inspiration that
26:43
and motivation that you get off like um
26:46
you introduced me to a song by um
26:49
it's his name frank fortune is that his
26:51
name mr
26:52
james fortune it was james fortune it
26:55
was still
26:56
and it was a great so i thought it was i
26:57
thought it was um um
26:59
kirk franklin but then i started
27:01
listening to this guy's music and i was
27:02
like wow she's really inspirational man
27:04
she got a good message about peace and i
27:06
feel like you know it shows a different
27:08
side of you because most of the time
27:10
when people see you it's game time you
27:12
mad
27:13
you walking in the ring mad you don't
27:15
want to talk so when i see you on social
27:17
media dancing
27:18
and partying and you know you have a
27:20
good time with your friends even
27:21
training at the same time
27:22
it just shows a bit different side so do
27:25
you think that more women should follow
27:26
that
27:27
lead that you put out there like you
27:28
know show a different side of you so
27:30
people could start following
27:31
the movement absolutely i feel like a
27:34
lot of women in boxing too
27:36
are uh not really realizing how
27:38
important social media in their brand is
27:41
and honestly your brand has to be the
27:42
same as mine right now
27:45
my brain is beauty and bronze like i'm a
27:47
beautiful woman i have a great shape
27:49
but i can whoop ass you know so i'm a
27:52
woman first but i'm a boxer second
27:55
and but also to me being on top of a
27:57
woman and being a boxer
27:58
i'm a daughter's sister auntie you know
28:02
and it's just so much that that like
28:04
like that comes with being a
28:06
being a woman i'm a businesswoman and
28:08
you have to um
28:10
let that be known and show that but a
28:12
lot of people
28:13
just kind of want to be secretive or
28:15
they think that you know like the people
28:17
are just going to come and watch them
28:18
pay attention
28:20
and it's like no we have to keep our
28:22
face out there we have to
28:24
um get people to look give people
28:26
something to look forward to
28:27
and let them in our life just a little
28:28
bit you know and that's why i started my
28:30
youtube channel i feel like
28:32
i got so many videos and so many things
28:34
that i do just on a regular basis
28:36
and um i don't do nothing with the
28:37
footage and i post on instagram and i
28:39
get my followers up
28:41
but i don't get paid off of instagram i
28:43
don't get paid off facebook but i get
28:45
paid off my youtube channel so there you
28:47
go
28:48
you know just another business uh avenue
28:51
and uh and those videos will make money
28:54
for life but people make money off of
28:56
me go online like when i go live people
28:58
start pressing
28:59
screen record and they pre-recorded the
29:02
next thing i know it's on youtube
29:03
and they got over 500 000 views on
29:06
youtube they're getting paid off of that
29:08
but it's a video of me
29:11
ain't that a crazy thing like yo you see
29:13
your video you go on the platform you
29:15
they got a million this person got a
29:17
couple hundred thousand and you got 500
29:19
views
29:20
that's crazy but your business sense too
29:23
i think
29:24
is important like and you've expressed
29:26
i've watched you for years clarissa you
29:28
know
29:28
as long as you come up on the show and i
29:31
watch you build your brand
29:32
like and it feels like it's always been
29:35
you building it but you mentioned
29:37
you know youtube being another stream of
29:39
revenue where have you been successful
29:41
business-wise outside of the ring
29:43
since you started boxing i have been
29:47
successful
29:48
and been 20 sorry i'll be about
29:52
you go you're good now yeah back in like
29:54
20
29:57
2016 2018 that's my way to start looking
30:00
at the business of boxing
30:01
in the business that i like like where i
30:03
can make money so i started off with
30:04
just
30:05
my boxing uniform and my boxing trunks
30:07
you know other networks
30:09
or other companies will want to put
30:11
their put their logo on my
30:13
on my clothes because i'm fighting on
30:15
national tv
30:16
everybody's watching me and i eat super
30:18
healthy so start off with uh
30:21
i think i'm gonna say all those or
30:23
what's the name of that
30:24
dogs d-o-l-e-s and they paid me ten
30:27
thousand to put
30:28
put a big old thing on my robe that said
30:31
dogs
30:32
a dog's fruit because i eat those fruit
30:35
and
30:35
they wanted to get that exposure and
30:37
they got great exposure
30:39
off of me fighting on that my pro debut
30:41
i was the first woman to fight
30:43
to fight at the t-mobile arena this one
30:45
first opened up
30:46
up in las vegas on the andre ward
30:48
kovalev card
30:50
um and then i seen i could make money
30:52
off for that and then
30:54
i started saying you know just with the
30:56
pandemic i made a lot of money off of
30:58
just doing like virtual training
31:00
uh online i was trying to do it for an
31:02
hour charging 100 bucks but i would
31:04
actually teach them boxing
31:06
teach them how to eat teach them how to
31:08
work out how to do certain body uh
31:10
body targeting you want to have tighter
31:12
abs you do these workouts you want to
31:14
have tighter arms you do these kind of
31:15
workouts and
31:16
um bigger back and i was able to meet a
31:19
lot of people
31:20
and i had virtually trained over 40 to
31:23
50 people
31:24
and that was just doing just to adjust
31:26
the pandemic
31:28
and then after that pandemic you know
31:30
just my mind started flowing
31:32
and i see people people were selling
31:35
clarissa shields merchandise
31:37
like putting putting my picture on
31:38
shirts and stuff from fights
31:40
and uh i just was like you know i need
31:43
to build my own website so i spent
31:44
months working on my website which
31:47
it's a website where i just sell
31:49
merchandise but now we're going to get
31:50
broader
31:51
and add like the storytelling on the
31:53
website come over to youtube channel put
31:55
the instagram on there
31:57
share from my childhood but um i just
31:59
wanted to get
32:00
the just get the website first buy the
32:02
website
32:04
get me a new design for my shirts and my
32:06
clothes and me be able to sell my
32:08
own product and make my own money so i
32:10
made
32:11
i don't know maybe seven eight to even
32:14
ten thousand just off selling my own
32:16
merchandise and i haven't had to put
32:17
that much money into it
32:18
yeah so so that's where it like comes to
32:21
business is like
32:22
yeah you gotta spend money to get things
32:24
done but you also have to look at
32:25
okay now that you made your money back
32:27
then you start counting your revenue
32:29
so it's something you just have to have
32:31
to learn as you go
32:32
but um i was really just more of
32:35
thinking about like
32:36
what what other income can i have
32:39
besides boxing because i haven't boxed
32:40
in a year
32:41
but all my bills are paid everything
32:44
in order and uh it's a good thing that i
32:47
have some kind of business sense because
32:49
the boxing money isn't that much and it
32:51
go fast
32:52
yeah you know it goes fast especially
32:54
when it's not coming in coming in coming
32:55
in
32:56
so um just having that business mindset
32:59
now my youtube channel
33:00
you want to know what's going on inside
33:01
my life i'll give you a snippet
33:04
on instagram but the behind the scenes
33:06
is on my is on my youtube channel
33:09
that i've been getting over 20 000 views
33:12
on certain videos 25
33:14
i show people how to box on there i
33:16
actually i do boxing lesson
33:18
101 4 5 and 6 this week because
33:21
one two and three got 25 000 views so
33:24
they want to see what's four five and
33:25
six
33:25
and i just show them little little
33:27
snippets of my of my technique but
33:29
that's who i
33:30
am i love to train people i love talking
33:32
to people
33:33
um i love kids i love and i just love
33:36
boxing and uh once i get into this
33:39
fashion thing it's gonna be something
33:40
else too because i love to dress up and
33:42
wear nice clothes so
33:44
it's definitely just opening more broad
33:46
things
33:48
we've seen it who who's t-rex where did
33:51
you get the name t-rex from
33:54
i got that name from my slime partner
33:56
the first guy ever spartan that was
33:58
darian lawson
34:00
um we were talking about boxing
34:01
nicknames and i guess everybody in the
34:03
gym had one except me and they were like
34:05
uh
34:05
you know how about the rest of reese's
34:07
cup and i'm like stripper name
34:08
i'm calling like what
34:12
and then some other guy was like how
34:14
about the rest of thundercat i'm like
34:16
come on bro like y'all got so many
34:18
stripper names it's ridiculous like no
34:21
and then uh and then my spine partner
34:23
was like the rest of t-rex
34:25
and i was like the dinosaur and he was
34:27
like yeah because
34:28
back then i was i was tall but my arms
34:31
hadn't really caught up yet
34:32
so i was super aggressive and so my
34:35
spine partner used to just hold their
34:36
arm out to where i could reach them
34:38
and i would just be trying to swing my
34:39
heart it's like trying to
34:41
you know trying to get to them so he
34:43
said i look like a t-rex when i was
34:45
doing that
34:46
all right so um
34:50
i just looked up the t-rex and i said it
34:52
a couple of times
34:54
and i always looked at myself as being
34:55
super powerful aggressive and being the
34:57
beast and it was like you know what
34:59
clarissa t-rex shields is definitely my
35:01
name it definitely sticks to how i
35:03
box so it's my name
35:07
i love it uh well clarissa i want to
35:09
thank you for being on bridge business i
35:11
i feel like this is a
35:14
really enlightening conversation but
35:15
it's it is writing cue to what i've been
35:18
hearing you talked about over the years
35:20
and even hearing your business plan now
35:22
makes so much sense
35:23
you know i saw you post your valentine's
35:25
day you and tony
35:26
were hanging out on valentine's day and
35:29
and i thought
35:30
wow clarissa has come a long way you
35:32
know what i mean
35:33
like you you're totally open now it
35:35
reminds me of the eminem
35:37
scene from eight mile horse when em just
35:40
said he just let everything out he gave
35:42
him everything so now you ain't got [ __ ]
35:44
to say about it
35:46
you know and i feel like i'm seeing that
35:48
on your social and everything
35:50
but um two questions if who would be
35:53
your dream fight
35:56
in mma that's the first question
36:00
and then i want to talk about this fight
36:03
this weekend
36:05
i want to make sure you're not
36:06
overlooking it and that you're truly
36:08
prepared for what's about to take place
36:14
my dream fight would be me versus amanda
36:16
nunez
36:18
and uh and i and i say that because she
36:20
lit up firing me when she did her
36:22
interview and they asked her what she
36:23
boxed against me the boxing match and
36:24
she said
36:25
no you know i'm not a boxer but tell
36:28
curtis shells to come to my world and
36:29
i'll choke the [ __ ] out of her
36:31
you know when you know and i went and
36:33
when she said that
36:35
you just like you think i'm gonna come
36:36
in here and just like i'm gonna just let
36:38
you choke me
36:38
you know but it was more of like the
36:41
competitive spirit of me came up and i
36:43
was like you know what i want to train i
36:45
want to drill so damn hard for the next
36:46
couple years
36:47
that when they mention me and her name
36:49
in the mma match
36:50
and they mention my name and they
36:52
mention her name people will say
36:54
she can't just go on there and choke her
36:56
out like she's gonna have a fight on her
36:58
hands i want them to be able to say we
36:59
don't know who's gonna win
37:01
so i may not be ready for that challenge
37:03
right now because
37:04
i love her anyway she's a beast right
37:06
yeah but once i learn
37:08
all those other disciplines and i add to
37:10
my to my arsenal
37:12
i believe in two to three years um she
37:14
won't be saying that she had choked the
37:16
[ __ ] out of me
37:17
two to three years okay and then okay
37:20
that's smart you being smart cause it'll
37:21
take that long
37:22
she is who she is and not taking
37:24
anything away from her
37:26
just like if she if she come trying to
37:28
mess with me and block him she's gonna
37:29
get her ass
37:30
yeah now now let's talk she said she got
37:33
the best hands but
37:34
she come over to boxing oh man i'll
37:37
smash her
37:38
she's nice though but i see what you
37:39
mean and then with marie eve
37:41
the care uh she's a knockout artist
37:44
you know she she well i don't know she's
37:48
so i know she's
37:49
wings she's undefeated she's undefeated
37:51
right i remember you talking about
37:54
uh learning you don't have as many
37:56
knockouts as a person would think you
37:58
would
37:58
like because i don't i don't i don't see
38:01
nobody who hits harder than you so i
38:02
don't understand how yeah
38:04
that's the sweet science that's where i
38:06
digress right
38:07
um how important is it to you to finish
38:09
this fight
38:10
expect in a spectacular way instead of
38:13
beating her on the cards
38:14
knocking her out um it's very
38:18
important to me at this point because
38:22
it's just not it's just not a regular
38:24
fight you know this isn't just main
38:25
event on showtime this is a pay-per-view
38:27
fight where
38:28
where my fans have tuned in to see a
38:31
spectacular performance and even though
38:33
i feel like all my performances have
38:34
been good enough you know and i'm 10 00
38:36
with two knockouts
38:38
i'm supposed to be 10 and uh with
38:39
probably five knockoffs because it was
38:41
three girls who i just beat the [ __ ] out
38:43
of
38:44
um who had no chance of winning the
38:46
fight and uh who went home with
38:48
headaches and knocked all over the head
38:50
but the ref didn't uh uh the ref didn't
38:53
stop the fight
38:54
and i didn't continue to put enough
38:56
power
38:57
to break through that person's defense
38:59
right and i mean the defense of them
39:02
covering up blocking bracing for punches
39:04
and uh i always want to stay looking
39:07
sharp and stay
39:08
looking you know land in my shots and
39:10
have everything together but
39:11
for this fight um i'mma go in there and
39:14
start breaking her will and her
39:16
confidence first round
39:18
and i believe sway that alone she's 17-0
39:22
and she doesn't want to lose and
39:23
everything like that
39:25
but i'mma break her spirit so bad that
39:27
by the like that by the sixth round
39:30
she's either one she's either gonna want
39:32
to quit or should not come out the
39:33
corner
39:34
because i'm a puncher so hard that she's
39:37
gonna
39:37
feel the year of frustration of me being
39:39
outside the ring
39:41
of me having to really promote this
39:44
fight without her because she
39:46
she knows um she's showing all her
39:48
weaknesses right now she hasn't
39:50
been promoting the fight she don't want
39:51
her fancy or get her ass whooped
39:53
you know we don't want them to tune in
39:55
so it's like i'm all over social media
39:57
i'm in boxing all my famous friends and
39:59
superstars telling the poster flyer
40:02
to tune into the fight and uh she's kind
40:05
of just sitting back you know relaxing
40:06
so i feel like it'll be a
40:08
it'd be a moral victory for her to go on
40:11
to go all 10 around
40:12
me because i am a beast and i am a
40:13
savage but i want to show her that uh
40:16
i'm not gonna give her that satisfaction
40:17
i'm gonna go i'm gonna go out there
40:19
and i believe fifth sixth round she
40:22
should be down but even if she's
40:23
standing there i want her to know
40:25
i'm gonna swing so hard every round that
40:28
if i if i don't get the knockout at the
40:31
end of the fight i won't be able to
40:32
stand up i won't be able to breathe
40:34
like i'm gonna try that hard to get out
40:36
of here i'm gonna be on the ground
40:38
and they're gonna be holding my hand up
40:39
i'm not gonna be able to stand up that i
40:41
try
40:42
so hard to get her out of there so
40:43
that's the challenge
40:45
that's what we want to hear yeah that's
40:48
what we want to hear
40:49
is this the first step is this the first
40:51
southport that you had to fight
40:53
because she's a southpaw she's a pro
40:56
yeah
40:56
i'm a southpaw she's a left-handed
40:58
fighter so is it yeah
40:59
yeah she's the first she's the first
41:02
southpaw pro that i've had to fight
41:04
but she isn't the first one uh the first
41:06
undefeated fire that i've taken i've
41:07
taken out
41:09
i don't know four or five undefeated
41:10
fighters and christina hammer being 24-0
41:13
11 knockouts
41:14
when i was eight you know and i was able
41:16
to put that one
41:17
on her record and um i love finding
41:21
undefeated fighters because they bring a
41:22
little bit more to the table and uh and
41:25
no one wants to lose their own
41:26
nobody there is nobody you can act in
41:28
boxing's on the feet like hey
41:30
you know can you wait to get your first
41:32
loss nobody
41:34
ever wants that so i know she'll come
41:35
out there she's gonna try
41:37
but she'll try to keep it and that's
41:39
where like and that's where
41:40
the fight will begin that when she
41:42
realizes she has to fight
41:44
to keep her ow and when she realized
41:46
that she realized that i don't care
41:47
about how hard she's gonna fight that
41:49
i'ma break her will
41:51
and that's when then and then that's
41:52
when you'll also see a different kind of
41:54
fight too
41:54
i'm really gonna see where or where or
41:56
where heart is
41:58
okay i love it i love it clarissa shells
42:01
the quote ladies and gentlemen round of
42:02
applause
42:03
pay-per-view march 5th make sure you
42:06
watch marie eve dakare
42:07
try to take all that's clarissa's
42:09
shields in a super welterweight
42:12
championship
42:12
fight man i love it congratulations and
42:19
[Music]
42:28
continues
42:33
you
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