Women’s heavyweight Danielle Perkins is happy to be fighting Claressa Shields and she has a point to prove. The two fight on Sunday at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, which is Shields’ hometown.
Perkins, the 42-year-old originally from Brooklyn, New York, but now training out of Houston, noticed nearly everyone in attendance cheered on Shields as Perkins’ words fell silent. She heard the silence and wants to address those who doubt her ability.
“I got to get these belts because there’s too many on this side [motioning to Shields’ side of the press conference] and none on this side,” Perkins said at Thursday’s press conference. “That bothers me.”
Perkins will be fighting for her first world title. She turned professional in 2020, but it has been a slow grind to this point as she has struggled to secure meaningful opponents given the limited depth of the women’s heavyweight division.
Speaking about this career defining bout, Perkins had intensity.
“I’m going to fight this woman with 100 percent intention to kill,” Perkins, 5-0 (2 KOs), said at Thursday’s press conference. “It has nothing to do with the people we are on the outside. Those people pay bills. They have responsibilities.
“Claressa and I are good friends and that makes for the best fight,” Perkins added. “We respect each other. She is going to try and break my nose and I am going to try and break her jaw.”
Perkins shared that she will enter the ring simply as a fighter with no responsibilities other than to defeat the 29-year-old Shields. Shields, one of the greatest women’s boxers ever, holds two Olympic gold medals, became a multi-division belt holder and even undisputed in two weight classes. She is one of only four fighters in the four-belt era to become undisputed, alongside Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue, and Oleksandr Usyk. Shields also won titles in three different divisions in just 10 fights.
Shields, 15-0 (3 KOs), is looking at becoming the first three-division undisputed champion. Perkins, on the other hand, is eager to hand Shields her first loss.
“She doesn’t care about anything I’m saying. In my mind, she’s like, ‘I am going to beat Danielle,’” Perkins said. “But in my mind, number 16 [Shields’ 16th professional win] doesn’t happen. I get number six [her sixth professional win] and she walks away 15-1. That is my mindset.”
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