Netflix’s new film, “The Fire Inside” starring Ryan Destiny, tells the story of professional boxer Claressa Shields and how she overcame all odds to be one of the greatest female boxers alive.
Though Shields accomplished much in her life, including becoming the “first American boxer (male or female) ever to win gold in back-to-back Olympic Games,” her road to victory was anything but easy.
She grew up in poverty in Flint, Michigan to a mother who battled alcoholism and a father who was in jail during the early years of her life. At age 11, Shields started boxing with the help of her coach Jason Crutchfield, played by Brian Tyree Henry in the film, and that helped her deal with a lot of anger she had while growing up.
“I was molested and raped. But I channeled all the anger from that into boxing, and I think that’s why I’m so successful at it,” she told ESPN of her childhood. “Boxing really helped with that. It calmed me down a lot and gave me discipline and structure.”
Thanks to boxing, Shields found a way out of her tumultuous home life and was able to create a name for herself in the sports world.
Scroll below to learn all about Shields and how close the film, “The Fire Inside,” is to her real life.
Who is Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields?
Claressa Shields, aka T-Rex, is an American professional boxer from Flint, Michigan. In 2012, Shields headed to the Olympics at 17 years old and became the first American woman to win gold in boxing. Then, four years later at the 2016 Olympics, she did it again when she secured her second gold medal.
Now at age 29, Shields holds the title as being the first American boxer ever to win gold in back-to-back Olympic Games.
Not to mention, she’s also a three-time undisputed champ. The only fight that Shields ever lost in her boxing career was against British World Champion Savannah Marshall just months before the 2012 Olympic Games, per the Olympics. However, she avenged herself in 2022 when the two went head-to-head in London for the middleweight champion title.
In an interview with ESPN, Shields explained how she got her nickname “T-Rex.” She said she got the moniker as a child when she was “very skinny” and had “short arms.”
What happened to Claressa Shields after the Olympics?
Shields’ life did not change much after she brought home a gold medal in boxing at the 2012 Olympics. That was the same year that women’s boxing became an official Olympic sport.
The self-proclaimed GWOAT (Greatest Woman of All Time) returned home to Flint, Michigan, with no endorsement deals whatsoever.
In the movie, it’s said that Shields was still living on her coach’s couch after she had just made history at the Olympics.
In an interview with NPR, Shields said that the public wasn’t comfortable with her image and she was advised to stop boasting about how she likes to beat people up in her interviews.
“They had this weird definition of what a strong woman was. For some reason, that definition was pretty, non-sweaty and not as muscular. And one, I’m very pretty. I think I’m fine! I’m gorgeous!” said with a grin.
“But the fact of it is,” she continued, “when [I’m] boxing, I look so strong and I’m punching so hard and I’m punching so fast, and [I] make people feel intimidated. I think that now people are starting to embrace that. The definition of a strong woman is Laila Ali. Lucia Rijker. Serena Williams. Claressa Shields.”
Shields told Entertainment Weekly that it was hard for her to see other people get brand deals who didn’t win gold medals. She explained that it was also difficult to see brands flock to her friends like Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky and then offer her nothing.
“I felt like my gold medal weighed less than theirs. So to be a 17-year-old going through that and also be in Flint where everybody’s saying, ‘They played you, they dissed you, your gold medal didn’t mean anything, you’re not getting what you deserve’ — to hear that for so many years and then go back and do it again was like, ‘Oh, man,'” she said.
How accurate is ‘The Fire Inside’?
“The Fire Inside” is loosely based on Shields’ life so all events in the film are not exactly true. For instance, the movie portrays Shields as a fighter who wanted to win gold at the 2012 Olympics. However, in an interview with ESPN, she said she heavily contemplated whether or not she wanted to come in first.
After she lost her fight against Marshall at the 2012 AIBA world championships in China, Shields said she noticed that the dynamic around her started to change from people believing in her to having doubts about her talents. She said they didn’t change their tune until she made it all the way to the finals in the 2012 Olympics.
“I really hated the fake vibes. I felt it from my Olympic teammates, some of the coaches and from people at home also,” she said.
Shields couldn’t help but think about what her life would be like if she took home silver instead of gold.
“As I was walking to the ring for my final fight at the Olympics, I was telling myself, ‘If you get silver, maybe you won’t have so many fakers and doubters and all this weird stuff around that you don’t want. But if you get gold, it’s going to be all of these people that are gonna come into your life. All these new cousins and all this new stuff,” she said.
“I had to make a decision on whether or not I wanted to get gold or silver because the power was in my hands,” Shields continued. “Then right before I got into the ring, I took a deep breath and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m gonna go ahead and get this gold medal, and however my life changes after this, I’m just going to accept it and deal with it the best way I can. There is no way I’m about to miss out on this opportunity because I’m scared of how many fake people will come around.”
Shields added that people still walk up to her to this day and tell her that they lost money betting against her in the finals.
Was Claressa Shields involved in the ‘The Fire Inside’?
Yes, Shields served as an executive producer in “The Fire Inside” and she told Entertainment Weekly that she had “a lot of input” in how the film was made.
“Before Barry (Jenkins) wrote the script, we met in person and talked for almost five hours. I let him speak first about what he thought my story was, and when he got done talking, I said, ‘Well, you had a few key parts, but this is what I want to tell, what I want them to understand about me,” she said. “When he wrote his script a few months later and sent it to me, he got it just right.”
Shields also hailed Destiny’s acting in the film and said she did a “great job” playing her in “The Fire Inside.”
“I cry every time I watch the movie,” Shields said.
What is Claressa Shields doing now?
After the 2016 Olympics, Shields went pro and became a five weight world champion. She reminded ESPN of her accolades when it left her off a list of “trailblazing” female athletes that aired on the channel.
In response, Shields took to X to share the ESPN graphic along with a picture of herself holding her championship belts.
In the caption, she wrote, “Wow @espn. Y’all have really lost yall mind!!!!! Do I have to run my resume down to y’all!!! 2x Olympic champ, 3x Undisputed champ, 5 weight world champion, 15x world champ. WOMENS BOXING TRAIL BLAZER.”
Shields has since gotten involved in the Mixed Martial Arts scene. In 2021, she made her MMA debut in a fight that she won against Brittney Elkin.
When asked why she wanted to do MMA, Shields told Yahoo Sports in 2021 that she felt like she “never got her just due in boxing.” At the time, Shields was a 12-time world champion. She is now a 15-time world champ.
“You think about becoming a 22-time world champion. It’s very easy for myself to do, but it was like, ‘What would that do for me? Would that make me a bigger star? Would that make me a household name? Or would that make me a millionaire?'” she said. “And the truth is no. It wouldn’t open up any more doors to me than what has already been opened.”
“I would have to keep fighting this war of equal pay and equal opportunity and getting women equal fight time,” she continued. “It just got to a place where I was like, you know what, I’ve been working so hard and boxing for so many years that if I’m going to work hard at something then at least let me reap what I sow.”