Claressa Shields

Fighting against undefeated IBF 154-pound champion Marie-Eve Dicaire continues my quest to fight the very best in women's boxing.

My grades started dropping, and when I sleep all day and come to the gym I'd have a slow day. I needed rules, I guess, in boxing and to just help me, period.

I be thinking sometimes, maybe I'm just too hard on people. Maybe I want too much. But no, I don't. All my granny did was cook for me, tell me that she love me, gave me hugs every now and then.

I have a world championship medal from 2014, but I can't find it. So I'm missing one. I think it's at my sister's house. I have to find it.

I have a lot of cousins that I don't know. But I think that happens to any celebrity. I wonder how many cousins does Michael Phelps have?

I slept with my gold medal.

Balancing around the holidays is something I've been doing for years. I saved a lot of money by not going home for Christmas, that's for sure. But I still spoke with all my family and connected with everyone.

When I was in juniors, I was fighting twice a year and going nine months without fighting.

My life is way bigger than boxing or acting or being rich or being famous or endorsements.

I've always had heart to get in there and fight. I was taught everything I knew. I was taught how to jab, why to do this, and why not to do that. I was taught that.

You got to adjust to how your life is.

I just love boxing. Train to get there and to just fight somebody.

I trained my whole life for the Olympics. I didn't have a childhood, I really couldn't go to the beach with my friends. Couldn't go to parties. Just training, training, training.

I take the toughest challenges and fight against the best women. With that attitude, I will always be doing something big. I'm light-years ahead of my time.

I train like an animal in the ring. There's nobody that can beat me because I train hard for everybody.

Boxing is so easy for me, sadly. I don't mean to be cocky. The promoters don't like that I walk through other girls but it's not my fault that I'm so good.

From my first fight, I loved being in the ring. I tune everything out - the lights, the smells, the noise - so I'm in this zone where I'm performing only for myself.

My dad would tell me stories about when he was an underground fighter. One day when I was 11, he told me he wished he had a son who could have been a real boxer.

Growing up in Flint, Michigan, I saw so many kids from my school end up in jail or unemployed, and gangs would hang out and cause trouble in my neighborhood. I had to learn how to protect myself, because it didn't feel like anyone else was protecting me.

I sign a lot of autographs and take a lot of pictures. That's why I've always got to keep my hair done now.