Shields defends undisputed crown vs. Daniels

DETROIT — Claressa Shields successfully defended her undisputed heavyweight crown with a unanimous decision victory versus tough-nosed New Zealand native Lani Daniels at the Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.

The judges scored the bout 100-90, 99-91, 99-91 in favor of Shields, who was on her A-game.

“She fought a hard fight, and I hit Lani with some big shots,” Shields said. “I broke her to the body. I broke her down to the head. I mixed it up on her. Lani is just very, very tough, and I knew she would be tough just from watching her fights and I could tell she worked on her speed.”

The victory marked the first time that Shields (17-0, 3 KOs) had fought twice in a calendar year since 2022. She said she welcomes all the big challenges going forward in her career, including retired champion Laila Ali and a potential showdown against welterweight champion Mikaela Mayer at 154 if they are seriously interested.

“I’m going to stay at heavyweight and hopefully get the big fights with Franchon Crews, Che Kenneally. I want to fight Laila Ali,” Shields said. “We put up the $15 million for the fight and we ain’t heard nothing back yet.

“Hopefully she saw the fight tonight and says, ‘You know what? I think I can take her.’ So, hopefully she saw it tonight and tells us yes, but I just want to make the best fights and the biggest fights, and that’s against whoever.”

In February, Shields made history as the first boxer — man or woman — to achieve undisputed status in three weight divisions with a unanimous decision win over Danielle Perkins as a heavyweight in her hometown of Flint, Michigan.

Daniels, the reigning IBF light heavyweight champion, last fought in September and had won seven straight fights before the loss against Shields. She put up a good fight in the later rounds.

“I knew she just wanted to survive the rounds, but she tried to come on maybe around 8 or 9, but I still feel like I won every round and even beat her with my back against the ropes,” Shields said.

Rapper Rick Ross accompanied Shields during her ring walk in front of a sell-out crowd of 15,369. In the first couple of rounds, Shields searched for a big shot as Daniels danced around the ring. At one point they even exchanged a few playful antics as Shields taunted her to stand up and fight.

Shields took control in Round 5, wearing Daniels down with body shots. Shields also showcased her jab, catching Daniels with clean shots in Rounds 6 and 7.

In the eighth, ninth and 10th rounds, Daniels was able to find some success working Shields on the ropes, but the women’s boxing pound-for-pound queen and self-proclaimed GWOAT — “Greatest Woman of All Time” — was able to take Daniels’ best punches with ease while landing big shots in return as she pulled out the victory. She’s now in search of a new challenge.

“These girls are just too easy to beat. Like people think that it’s all about the knockouts but it’s like I go in there and I win 10 rounds easy,” Shields said. “All these girls talk all this crap about me being at 175 now and being heavyweight champ, but when I was at 154 nobody would fight me. When I was at 160, I cleared the division. 68, cleared the division.”

Former WBC super welterweight champion Tony Harrison also made his return to the ring as the co-main event with a unanimous decision win over Edward Diaz of the Dominican Republic. Harrison (30-4-1, 21 KOs) hadn’t fought since 2023, when he fell short in a TKO loss against Tim Tszyu for the interim super welterweight crown, but he outboxed Diaz (15-7, 12 KOs) down the stretch Saturday to pull away with the win in the 10th round.

Harrison, a Detroit native, was outfitted in full Lions gear to represent his hometown on the big stage but narrowly survived a ninth-round knockdown, when he was clipped by a strong right hand shot from Diaz.

“It’s boxing. When I got caught it wasn’t even like a punch that hurt me,” Harrison said. “I was really already kind of falling off balance. It was kind of a flash, and I should’ve did five pushups because I owed that at the moment. It wasn’t nothing that hurt me or nothing, but I owed that for not being disciplined.”