Danielle Perkins didn’t think Claressa Shields would come to heavyweight

Danielle Perkins never expected to face Claressa Shields.

Perkins will look to defeat Shields for the undisputed heavyweight championship on February 2 at the Dort Financial Center in Shields’ hometown of Flint, Michigan. The bout, which is promoted by Salita Promotions, will be streamed by DAZN. 

This fight will see Perkins challenge for Shields’ WBC heavyweight title as well as the vacant IBF, WBA and WBO belts. 

“The opportunity to fight for the unified championship in the heavyweight division, I feel like it’s the biggest opportunity any fighter could ask for in my division, period,” Perkins told BoxingScene. “I didn’t think this would ever happen. I’m grateful, but I [didn’t] think the idea that she would even want to fight at heavyweight was even an option.”

Perkins, 5-0 (2 KOs), is a 42-year-old from Brooklyn, New York, who trains in Houston, Texas. She turned professional in 2020, won three bouts but then spent three years out of the ring. Perkins returned last March and added two more victories. 

There are very few women worldwide competing in the heaviest weight classes. Each of the sanctioning bodies has a different definition for what counts as a heavyweight in women’s boxing; for example, the WBC considers heavyweight to be anything above 168lbs.

Perkins brushes aside those who scoff at her age, which is not traditionally seen as a fighter’s prime.

“I mean strictly looking at my age, it makes sense for heavyweights,” Perkins said. “Heavyweights are older, generally.”

Perkins said the road to getting fights has been almost impossible. She dropped 30lbs to fight in the light heavyweight range, but even then, the talent pool was very small. 

In 2020, Perkins had been in talks to fight Hanna Gabriels at a contracted weight of 185lbs. That motivated Perkins to walk around at 190lbs, instead of in the 200s.

“It was three years of, like, back and forth on the possibility of that fight,” Perkins said. The Gabriels match never happened. 

Perkins was a college basketball player for George Mason University from 2001-2002 and St. John’s University from 2003-2006. A lifelong athlete and competitor, she didn’t start boxing until 2014, two years after Shields won her first gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. 

“I’m like a traditional raw athlete,” Perkins said. “I feel like most basketball players and football players translate well into boxing.”

Perkins’ biggest edge is that she is naturally bigger. Perkins is 6ft tall with a 72-inch reach, while Shields is listed at 5-foot-8 with a 68-inch reach. 

Shields, a 29-year-old who holds a record of 15-0 (3 KOs), is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time undisputed world champion (first at middleweight and then junior middleweight). Shields fought at 175lbs in July, when she knocked out Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse in two rounds.

“Yeah, she’s much smaller,” Perkins said. “She’s put on some size and some decent muscle mass, but she’s much smaller.”