Undisputed women’s heavyweight champion Claressa Shields returned to her hometown for glory and a piece of history.
Shields won a 10-round unanimous decision over Danielle Perkins on Sunday to win her third undisputed championship after previously unifying all four belts at middleweight and junior middleweight. (Shields has also won titles at super middleweight and light heavyweight.)
The fight took place at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan. This was only the second time the 29-year-old Shields had fought at home; the first time was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m not going to be here in Flint every time, but I thought this was the perfect time to come back with The Fire Inside [a biopic film about Shields released late last year] coming out and also to showcase my upbringing in the city of Flint,” Shields said in a post-fight media scrum. “I knew I could sell this place out. I knew that my fans would show up for me, and I wanted to make history.”
History, in this case, was unifying three vacant belts with her WBC heavyweight title. To do so, the two-time Olympic gold medalist defeated a much taller and naturally heavier opponent in Perkins, a 42-year-old from Brooklyn, New York, who came in with a record of 5-0 (2 KOs).
“That girl was strong as hell,” said Shields, now 16-0 (3 KOs). “She was definitely a problem. My experience and my skills got me over. Listen, I’ve been in plenty of street fights with bigger people, and I had to use some of my skills in there today.”
Shields described Perkins as “getting greedy” in the final seconds of the fight – when Perkins overextended with a straight left and Shields caught her with a huge right hand counter. The shot dropped Perkins to her knees for the sole knockdown of the evening, punctuating the clear win for Shields.
Shields, overcome with emotion afterward, was asked if it would be possible to top becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion.
“Honestly, it is a hard thing to top,” Shields said. “But if anybody can do it, it’s me.”
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