Telegram - Serving Metropolitan Detroit Since 1944

Two time Olympic Gold Medalist and Unified Women's

Super-Middleweight Champion Claressa Shields. Visited Detroit's Downtown Boxing Gym to talk to the media and youth. Shields want

to become a real and relatable Figure to the children. "It's hard to be positive when your surrounded by negativity." Says the champion boxer. Shields will attempt to become a two-division world champion when she faces unified women's 154-pound champion Hanna Gabriels for the vacant IBF and WBA Middleweight World Championships at Masonic Temple in Detroit on Friday, June 22.

Shields (5-0, 2 KOs) grew up in nearby Flint and was the first

American boxer in history, male or female to win consecutive Olympic Gold Medals. The 23-year-old turned professional following the 2016 Olympics and became the Unified Women's Super-Middleweight World Champion in just her fourth professional fight. Shields now begins her first camp with renowned trainer, John David Jackson, as she attempts to become a two-division champion.

The Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program is a free, after school academic and athletic program that currently serves 150 Detroit students ages 8-18 with a waiting list of more than 850students. The gym teaches books before boxing with a focus on tutoring, mentorship and enrichment programs, and has a 100% high school graduation rate since its inception in 2007. The program's founder and CEO, Khali Sweeney, was named a Top 10 CNN Hero in 2017.