DETROIT – Claressa Shields demonstrated her dominance in women’s boxing by successfully defending her undisputed middleweight title, achieving a unanimous decision victory over the tough New Zealand boxer Lani Daniels at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night. The judges awarded scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 99-91 in favor of Shields, who exhibited an exceptional performance.
This victory marks Shields’ second fight (17-0, 3 KOs) in a calendar year since 2022. The boxer has expressed her desire to face significant challenges in her career, including former champion Laila Ali and a possible match with welterweight champion Mikaela Mayer, at 154 pounds, if they show real interest.She fought hard, and I connected with Lani with strong blows. I wore her down to the body. I wore her down to the head. I varied my attacks. Lani is very, very tough, and I knew she would be, just by watching her fights, and I could tell she worked on her speed.
Claressa Shields
In February, Shields made history by becoming the first boxer, male or female, to achieve undisputed status in three weight divisions, with a unanimous decision victory over Danielle Perkins in heavyweight, in her hometown of Flint, Michigan. Daniels, the current IBF light heavyweight champion, had won seven consecutive fights before this loss against Shields. She proved to be a tough rival in the final rounds.I’m going to stay at heavyweight and I hope to have big fights with Franchon Crews, Che Kenneally. I want to fight Laila Ali. We offered 15 million dollars for the fight and we still haven’t received a response.
Claressa Shields
Rapper Rick Ross accompanied Shields during her ring entrance in front of a crowd of 15,369 spectators. In the early rounds, Shields sought to connect powerful punches while Daniels moved around the ring. At one point, they exchanged playful gestures, with Shields encouraging her to fight. Shields took control in the fifth round, wearing down Daniels with body shots. He also demonstrated his jab, connecting clean punches in rounds 6 and 7. In the eighth, ninth, and tenth rounds, Daniels achieved some successes working against Shields on the ropes, but the pound-for-pound queen of women’s boxing and self-proclaimed GWOAT (“Greatest Woman of All Time”) was able to withstand Daniels’ best punches while landing strong blows in return, securing the victory. Now she seeks a new challenge.I knew she just wanted to survive the rounds, but she tried to react around the eighth or ninth round, but I still feel like I won every round and even outboxed her with my back against the ropes.
Claressa Shields
In the co-main event, former WBC super welterweight champion Tony Harrison also returned to the ring with a unanimous decision victory over Edward Díaz of the Dominican Republic. Harrison (30-4-1, 21 KOs) had not fought since 2023, when he lost by technical knockout against Tim Tszyu for the interim super welterweight title, but he outboxed Díaz (15-7, 12 KOs) in the final rounds, securing the victory in the tenth round. Harrison, a Detroit native, wore the full Lions uniform to represent his hometown on the big stage, but narrowly survived a fall in the ninth round when he was hit by a strong right hand from Díaz.These girls are too easy to beat. People think it’s all about knockouts, but I go in and win 10 rounds easily. All these girls talk bad about me for being at 175 now and being a heavyweight champion, but when I was at 154 nobody wanted to fight me. When I was at 160, I cleared out the division. Sixty-eight, I cleared out the division.
Claressa Shields
It’s boxing. When I got caught, it wasn’t even a punch that hurt. I was really already off balance. It was like a flash, and I should have done five push-ups because I owed that at that moment. It wasn’t anything that hurt or anything, but I owed that for not being disciplined.
Tony Harrison
