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.
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.
The film, directed by Rachel Morrison and starring Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry, was released in the US in December. Its UK release date is 7 February.
