FLINT – American Claressa Shields was crowned boxing’s first undisputed world champion in three weight classes on Feb 2, after beating compatriot Danielle Perkins for the women’s heavyweight title by unanimous decision in front of her home crowd in Flint, Michigan.
Shields, who also won middleweight gold medals at the London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics, landed a powerful right hand with seconds to go in the 10th and final round, knocking down Perkins and improving her professional career record to 16-0.
The win makes 29-year-old Shields an undisputed champion in a third weight class, adding to her undisputed titles in the middleweight and light-middleweight divisions.
She is the only boxer, man or woman, to achieve the feat.
“It feels unbelievable, to be honest. I had a really hard training camp. And just last Friday, I tore my labrum in my left shoulder, so I wasn’t able to use my good jab today,” Shields said.
“But I didn’t want to call the fight off because I had asked God to give me a big fight in my hometown. He did that. So I decided to keep going through with it. I feel so happy. And shout out to my opponent, Danielle Perkins. Man, that girl was strong as hell.”
Perkins, 42, won her first five bouts before losing to Shields. She won the heavyweight gold at the 2019 world championships in Ulan-Ude, Russia.
After the fight, Shields said she wanted a rematch with Costa Rican Hanna Gabriels, whom she beat in June 2018 in Detroit to claim the World Boxing Association and inaugural International Boxing Federation middleweight titles.
Gabriels has held world championships in four weight classes.
Shields has also dabbled in mixed martial arts, winning two and losing one of her fights. Her last bout was a split-decision win over Kelsey DeSantis in the PFL v Bellator: Champs event in Riyadh last February.
Her life has been made into a movie called The Fire Inside. It was written by Barry Jenkins, who directed and co-wrote Moonlight, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2016. Moonlight won two other Oscars, including Best Picture.