"Clayton is a writer for BuzzFeed and co-host of its hit podcast "Another Round," which iTunes named a "Best of 2015." She has been named the 2016-2017 Ida B. Wells Media Expert-in-Residence for the Anna Julia Cooper Center at Wake Forest University." Tracy Clayton
I was terrified when I sat down to interview Claressa Shields for "Another Round." It was the first interview I ever conducted without my co-host and I wanted to do a good job. I wanted a solid, fair, interesting interview, and I worried that I would fail because the little that I do know about sports isn't about boxing -- beyond knowing that my hometown hero, Muhammad Ali, is "The Greatest."
But I relaxed soon after we sat. It wasn't hard. I didn't need sports lingo or quickly memorized boxing stats. Our conversation flowed quick and easy because we speak the same language, the tongue of black girls who were once asked to make themselves softer for the sake of the world around them, whose neighborhoods, offices and entire worlds might as well be boxing rings because we have been fighting our whole lives. We talked about her childhood in Flint, Michigan, her family, her struggles and her joys, and I beamed looking at this young sister who already has so much figured out.
What Claressa does in the ring is a manifestation of what all women do outside of it, and she does it superbly. What makes her a force in the ring -- her strength, power, intuition, poise -- all came from where and who she comes from, and she knows that. She pulls no punches, if you'll pardon the pun, about who she is. She's strong and soft and happy and fearsome and focused and sharp and deft. She's a child of God and a child of Flint. She is everything at once and she isn't compromising, and it makes my heart leap to see.
In a world obsessed with authenticity, who's real and who's fake, it's the person who lives with no regrets who earns the title of realest. She knows who she is and expects us to accept that, and she is right to. Chimamanda Adichie says in "We Should All Be Feminists" (and at the beginning of Beyonce's "Flawless"), "We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller." Claressa flat out refuses to honor this request, and when a woman does that, it is a revolutionary act.
"I'm the best," she said several times in our interview. "I want you to hit me. I want to see what you can do. Your favorite punch becomes my favorite punch." I believe her, and I believe in her right to believe it of herself. Women aren't given the permission to brag on themselves and their strengths the way men are. When women, especially women of color, dare to publicly admit that we know our worth and our value, we're accused of not being "humble enough." With every swing she takes in the ring, Claressa fights against that. And she is winning.
Claressa is unapologetically black, unapologetically female, unapologetically herself. The realest, befitting the throne of "The Greatest."
More on Claressa Shields
• Made in Flint Video »
• The fight in Claressa Shields Photo story »
• How Claressa Shields got that body Story »
• Shields on training, winning and working harder than everyone else Story »
The IMPACT25 is espnW's annual list of the 25 athletes and influencers who have made the greatest difference for women in sports. Explore the 2016 list and more content at espnW.com/IMPACT25.