London, England

Claressa Shields improved the Americans' mediocre performance in the boxing ring after pounding her way to a 19-12 victory over Nadezda Torlopova of Russia in the middleweight division finals at the 2012 London Games.

The 17-year-old Shields became the second youngest boxer to bag the gold medal in history, overpowering the highly-favored Russians before a capacity crowd at Excel Exhibition Centre.

After engaging in a furious exchange of blows in the first round, Shields turned a 3-3 contest to a boxing clinic of her own as she effortlessly tagged her opponent with sharp hooks and quick jabs.

Shields outscored Torlopova 7-4 in the second round, 5-3 in the third, and held on in the final round as time expired.

After a rash of disappointments on the American side in the boxing ring, flyweight Marlen Esparza became the first person to medal in the event with a 10-8 loss to China's Ren Cancan in the semifinals round. Esparza bags the bronze as a losing semifinalist per Olympic rules.

The US, Ireland and Britain celebrated the fighters who took home the first Olympic boxing gold medals for women. The event proved popular, and some suggested adding more weight classes to the competition in the future

2012 London Olympics - videos

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