Claressa Shields demonstrated her dominance in women’s boxing by successfully defending her undisputed middleweight title, securing a unanimous decision victory against the tough Lani Daniels at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The judges awarded scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 99-91 in favor of Shields, who exhibited exceptional performance during the match.
This victory marks Shields’ second fight (17-0, 3 KOs) so far this year, an achievement she hadn’t reached since 2022. The boxer has expressed her interest in taking on big challenges in the future, including a possible match with retired champion Laila Ali and a potential fight with welterweight champion Mikaela Mayer, if they show genuine interest.She fought hard, and I connected with Lani with strong blows. I wore her down with body shots, 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 realized 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 different weight divisions. On this occasion, she defeated Danielle Perkins by unanimous decision in heavyweight. Daniels, current IBF light heavyweight champion, had won seven consecutive fights before facing Shields. Despite the loss, Daniels proved to be a resilient opponent, especially in the final rounds.I’m going to stay at heavyweight and I hope to have the 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 in 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. Shields took control in the fifth round, wearing down Daniels with body shots and showing her jab in rounds 6 and 7. In the final rounds, Daniels managed to land some punches against Shields, but the self-proclaimed “Greatest of All Time” withstood the attacks and counterattacked effectively, securing the victory.I knew I just wanted to survive the rounds, but I tried to react around the 8th or 9th, 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, WBC super welterweight ex-champion Tony Harrison also returned to the ring with a unanimous decision victory over Edward Díaz of the Dominican Republic. Harrison, who hadn’t fought since 2023, outboxed Díaz in the final rounds to secure the victory in the tenth round. Harrison, a Detroit native, represented his city in a Lions outfit, but survived a knockdown in the ninth round.These girls are too easy to beat. People think it’s about knockouts, but I go in there and win 10 rounds easily. All these girls talk trash about me being at 175 now and being the 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
