Caroline Dubois on Claressa Shields: “She inspired me to pursue boxing greatness”
IBO World lightweight champion Caroline Dubois (10-0, 5KO) has thanked Michigan’s Claressa Shields, the self-proclaimed greatest women’s boxer of all time, for inspiring her own quest for greatness.
Speaking to SportsBoom, the 23-year-old enigmatic champion from London revealed how the history-making American has inspired her throughout her career so far.
Shields’ influence on Dubois’ boxing career
The reigning IBO World lightweight champion, Dubois, who also recently won the interim WBC version of the title against Maira Moneo at Oakwell, the home of Barnsley Football Club, just over a week ago.
Shields, undefeated in 15 professional outings, has now held world belts in five different divisions and counts Dubois’ fellow Briton Savannah Marshall among her list of conquests.
Having famously pretended to be a schoolboy named Colin when she first took up the sport, after discovering there were no other female fighters in her gym, Dubois revealed how watching Shields as a youngster persuaded her to make a career of the fight game.
“When you first spar, you think who you’d want to be like,” Dubois told SportsBoom.com.
“There weren’t many girls doing this when I decided to give it a go.
“There was only really Laila Ali, the daughter of Mohammed Ali, around when I began doing this at nine. But she was in her 30s. She seemed so old to me back then and so I couldn’t really relate to her at all.
“Then Claressa came along and really burst onto the scene. She was blowing absolutely everyone out.
“I remember searching every single day for information on what she was doing.”
Shields’ divisive persona and Dubois’ admiration
Shields, who was crowned queen of the heavyweights when she defeated Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse in Detroit last month, divides opinion thanks to her seemingly brash nature and outspoken views.
But Dubois, whose brother Daniel is the IBF world heavyweight king and on a collision course with Anthony Joshua in September, revealed Shields’ public persona masks a much softer side to her nature.
“I’ve told Claressa how much she inspired me,” said Dubois, who won a gold medal at the youth Olympics six years ago.
“I’ve spoken to her a few times and let her know how, without knowing at the time, she really encouraged me.
“Claressa is a good person. A really solid person. She messaged me a few times when I was at the Olympics and that was brilliant. I know she’s like Marmite for a lot of people. They either love her or they hate her.
“But she switches it on when she’s in a gym or it’s all about the fighting. Really, she’s a good and solid person.”
Her own legacy
Asked about her own legacy after being named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2019 – the same year Shields unified the women’s middleweight titles – Dubois said, “Most fighters don’t go into this to be role models, that’s not why we start. We want to make our own dreams a reality.
“But then you do start thinking ‘Who do I want to be like?’ Personally, I don’t try to be a role model for others.
“I just want to be a good person and a good athlete and then hopefully others look at that.”