Claressa Shields becomes undisputed heavyweight champion with victory over Danielle Perkins
Claressa Shields becomes undisputed heavyweight champion with victory over Danielle Perkins
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The ‘GWOAT’ won a comprehensive decision to stay unbeaten and unify all the belts. Claressa Shields became undisputed women’s heavyweight champion on Sunday, comprehensively outpointing Danielle Perkins for a hometown win in Flint, Michigan. Shields, who dropped Perkins in the 10th and final round, secured a unanimous decision over her fellow American, winning 100-89, 99-90, 97-92. The result kept Shields, 29, unbeaten at 16-0, while 42-year-old Perkins fell to 5-1 as a professional.
![[Claressa Shields (left) during her decision win against Danielle Perkins]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/03/9/49/GettyImages-2196840155.jpg)
Shields entered Dort Financial Center as WBC and WBF heavyweight champion, and the “GWOAT” claimed the vacant WBO and IBF belts with her victory. Speaking after the fight, Shields said: “Danielle was strong, she was definitely a problem, but my experience and my skills got me over it. “I’ve been in plenty of street fights with bigger people, and I had to use some of my skills in that [against Perkins], too. So, when I dropped her in the last round, it’s because she got greedy.
“I actually think I’m going to have to have surgery on my left arm. I tore my labrum last week, so the fight almost didn’t happen. I didn’t want to let Flint down, but I really couldn’t use my jab the way that I wanted to. “I iced it, I did therapy, and now I think I’m going to have a shoulder surgery.”. Shields’s victory comes just days before the UK release of The Fire Inside, a biopic about the early years of her boxing career – including her Olympic gold-medal triumph in 2012, which was followed by another in 2016.
