Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Reigning Olympic middleweight champion Claressa Shields was so dominant in her Rio semi-final Friday that she admits she resisted knocking out her foe just to have a bit more “fun”.
The 21-year-old American wrote herself into the history books when she won gold at the London 2012 Games as a teenager — the first time women’s boxing had featured at an Olympics — and is now just one more victory away from repeating that feat.
Shields will face the Dutchwoman Nouchka Fontijn for gold on Sunday after claiming a fully deserved unanimous points victory over Dariga Shakimova of Kazakhstan.
At one point Shields dropped her guard entirely, it was so easy.
“I actually could have stopped her but I was having so much fun,” Shields revealed afterwards, her face showing scant evidence of any punishment.
“I was like, ‘Why do that?’ I decided to go out there and have fun for the rest of the round. I got the eight count on her. I was able to start seeing a lot of shots in the third round come open.
“I had my hands down because I knew I could slip and I could make her pay. I wanted her to throw punches at me so I could show her that I’m faster than you and I punch harder than you.
“She had a real aggressive attitude as soon as she walked into the ring, trying to let me know that she wasn’t about games.
“I looked at her like, ‘I’m not about games either.’”
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