How 41-year-old Tori Nelson fought her way to a title bout with 22-year-old Olympic champion Claressa Shields

On Friday, Jan. 12, Tori Nelson will fight Claressa Shields for the WBC and IBF super middleweight titles on Showtime. The fight will headline the ShoBox: The New Generation card, which will take place at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, N.Y. It’s a primetime bout, pitting two women who took diametric paths to success.

Shields is one of the current forces of women’s boxing. At just 22 years old, she is already the only American boxer to ever win consecutive gold medals at the Olympics. She has accomplished about as much as anyone can in such a short period of time, and got going early -- she started at 11 years old to become one of the world’s best fighters.

And when you look to the other side of the ring, you’ll see Nelson — a 41 year old who didn’t think about boxing until age 29, who hit her prime well past the age when the world’s best boxers are past theirs.

Nelson began to box in 2005 to lose weight. At the time, she was a mother of two kids working three minimum-wage jobs. Boxing was supposed to be a stress reliever from her rigorous schedule. Nelson quickly fell in love with the sport, however, and her passion manifested into a dream of catapulting up the pro ranks.

She made it to the top, not in spite of all the things that could have held her back — age, time, children — but because of them.

Nelson, who resides in Ashburn, Va., was an overburdened, working-class single mother before she started boxing. She worked as an IHOP waitress, a cafeteria worker, and a school bus driver to make ends meet. There weren’t enough hours in the day for her to relax.

Her ex-husband — who boxed in the military — told her the cardiovascular aspect of boxing would help her get in shape. The training regimen was overwhelming at first.

“Oh my God, it was crazy getting up at 5:30 a.m. I used to try and get up and go to the gym and work early,” Nelson said. “Then, I would come back [home] to shower, get them off to school, go to work, and try to train in the evening. It was a lot.”

Nelson’s children — Simone, now 19, and Q, 22 — accompanied her all the time to the gym, where they would complete their homework and play. Nelson trained five times a week at several gyms to spar against different boxers. Because she was a single mother, she needed to take her kids with her to look after them. They never had play time in the evenings, she said. “They were robbed of that.”

Q was 10 when Nelson started boxing: “It was pretty amazing. It was full of surprises, and she was born with a gift,” Q said.

Simone, who was only seven when Nelson started boxing, noticed even then how much her mom was improving: “She would spar with so many different people, so I enjoyed the new moves she learned because I could do them.”

As a kid, Nelson fought in school to protect herself. She wasn’t new to throwing punches. But she didn’t have many boxing skills when she met Craig Fladager, her trainer.

Fladager immediately recognized her natural inclination to the sport, however. Nelson currently trains at a local UFC Gym.

“You can’t teach tenacity — the instincts of fighting,” Fladager told The Loudoun Tribune in October. “I could see that right away — the first time she got hit.”

Fladager said most people move back in fear when they take a hit. Nelson was different from others. “She fought. Her instinct was to hit back,” he said.

Nelson’s first boxing match as an amateur was in March 2008 after about a year of sparring. She had morphed into an up-and-coming competitor by then, ready to make a name for herself in the amateur ranks.

Nelson said the woman she clashed with in her first amateur fight was “so big.” The match was so intense that Nelson’s nose and lungs “were burning.” Both competitors were exhausted after the match and couldn’t stand.

“When the fight was over, she was laying on top of me in the corner,” Nelson said. “She was just laying on me like she had nothing else. I had to hold her and myself up. I was so glad to hear that bell. Oh God, I’ll never forget that.”

Nelson competed in 12 amateur bouts, and won three Golden Gloves in Washington, D.C. and Maryland. After she won her second Golden Gloves, her manager told her it was time to go pro. She won one more set of Golden Gloves before her first pro bout in 2010 against Baltimore’s Shelly Seivert — America’s top-ranked boxer in the women’s middleweight class at the time.

Nelson welcomed the challenge, but first she had to lose her protective head gear, something she relied on during matches as an amateur. She had to get into the habit of moving her head during matches.

Simone wasn’t worried about whether her mother could last in the professional ranks. She always had confidence in her mother’s ability as a boxer. “I feel sorry about the other girl with no head gear,” Simone said.

Nelson and Seivert went the distance — but the judges gave Nelson a draw. Fladager told the The Loudoun Tribune that, early on, Nelson looked like she might lose her first pro fight.

“Tori was very nervous and had butterflies and I mean I really yelled at her in the corner,” Fladager said. “I’m usually pretty calm in the corner but I had to wake her up. So from about the middle of the first round until the end, she basically won the fight, but they gave her a draw.”

Q called Nelson’s first pro match “crazy.”

“I did not want her to get hurt or anything, but I knew she could do it. She’s pretty brave. And once she got out the ring, I was amazed,” he said.

In Dec. 2010, seven months later, Nelson defeated Seivert, who never stepped back in the ring again. “It kind of shut her down,” Fladager said about Seivert.

That victory kickstarted Nelson’s career. She has compiled a 15-0-2 record and two knockouts since then, and won several championships along the way, including a middleweight world title in 2011. Nelson also scored a TKO in the second round against Mia St. John in 2014.

Nelson was on top of her game then. She was spending long hours in the gym, and her kids motivated her along the way.

There were times when Simone would simply ask Nelson, “Is that all you got?” during training sessions. Nelson called Simone “her little coach.”

“She pushed so hard. I be looking for my real coach because I just want her to be going where she is going. She would make sure she got her two cents in,” Nelson said while laughing.

Q was supportive but in other ways. He made sure Nelson was well rested and consumed proper foods. Every time Nelson exited the ring after training and fighting, she would ask him for his opinion.

Simone and Q never stepped away from their mother’s side. Unfortunately for Nelson, the business of women’s boxing kept her out of the ring for reasons she couldn’t control.

Nelson wanted to keep fighting. She was in prime shape and wanted to add on to her long list of accomplishments. But there was only one problem: Competitors were canceling matches because they were either hurt or simply didn’t want to fight.

Nelson said she was just unlucky, but top women’s boxers have often had a difficult time finding opponents. Within the relatively small pool of female professional boxers, few are willing to sign up for bouts that they are likely to lose. Many of boxing’s best female fighters, in fact, prefer to stay in the amateur ranks because, as The New Yorker noted in 2014, pro purses aren’t lucrative enough. Instead, they can earn regular stipends and free travel through USA Boxing.

In 2014, Nelson’s team asked several boxers if they wanted to fight her for the Women’s International Boxing Association World Welterweight Title. They all canceled on her, so Nelson had to fight Nicole Woods, who had gone 0-7-2 in her previous nine bouts.

“We went to more girls before her, and they were like ‘oh no, we’re not fighting her,’” Nelson told boxingscene.com in 2014. “I’m like, but it’s boxing. But she [Woods] was the one who jumped on it. She said ‘I’ll fight her.’ Okay, you get it.”

Nelson has only fought twice since June 2015.

“I got frustrated because I’m training. When I train, my house is with me. My house trains, too. So, I said I cannot keep putting myself and my kids through this. Like, it’s not fair. So, I just took the break,” Nelson said.

Nelson told herself that she would resume fighting if the opponent actually wanted to fight and was worthy of a match. She stayed in tremendous shape.

In Dec. 2016, Nelson fought Alicia Napoleon. Nelson, who was 40 at the time, won via unanimous decision. She didn’t show any sign of having slowed down.

Nelson’s most recent bout was in Nov. 2017 against Latashia Burton. Nelson looked smooth in the ring, throwing different combinations at her competitor from Louisiana. After two rounds, Burton threw up and decided not to continue, improving Nelson’s lifetime record to 17-0-3.

At 41, Nelson feels better than she did as a 29-year-old newcomer. “I guess it’s because of the experience now,” Nelson said. “At first at 29, you got to remember that I was still heavy. I wasn’t used to moving like this. Now at 41, I feel like I’m floating. I can move. And that’s a blessing.”

Nelson is aware of Shields’ accomplishments and respects her as a competitor. Ever since Shields turned pro, Nelson has wanted to step in the ring with her, according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael in November.

”Since I became a boxer, I have dreamed of being in big fights on television. I am confident that I will win this fight and remain undefeated. And I plan to retire as an undefeated world champion.”

Nelson realizes the deck is stacked against her, not least because Shields is nearly 20 years her junior. But Nelson is used to colliding with younger fighters.

“It’s no different. If you look at everybody I fought, these girls are young,” Nelson said. “Everybody is younger. The only person I fought that was probably my age was Mia [St. John]. It’s nothing new to me.”

Nelson doesn’t look at her opponent’s age when training. She knows the opposition will throw punches and defend, things all fighters do.

Nor does Nelson care that people are doubting her.

“Haters are my motivators. At the end, I’ll apologize for upsetting you,” she said with a laugh.

Life taught Nelson how to adjust to anything, and how to turn her burdens — obligations to her livelihood, while trying to take care of herself and her children — into her strength. When Nelson steps in the squared circle on Jan. 12, she’ll be the underdog. But that’s OK with her. She is prepared to adapt to anything Shields throws at her.

“If she wants to box, I’m fighting. If she wants to fight, I’m boxing,” Nelson said, echoing something Fladager told her.

“I’m ready for whatever.”