Claressa Shields planted her flag.
On a stage tucked inside the Google entrance of Little Caesars Arena, in front of dozens of children from DGB, a local boxing gym and after-school program, Shields staked her claim.
“I’m not looking for the ref to stop the fight against Lani,” Shields said in a press conference. “I’m gonna make Lani quit. I’m gonna make her throw in the towel.”
The press conference was to promote Shields’ upcoming fight against Lani Daniels, a New Zealand boxer and reigning IBF light heavyweight champion. The fight, which will be hosted by 313 Entertainment at Little Caesars on Saturday, July 26, is Shields’ third time in three years fighting in the arena in her home state. She defeated Maricela Cornejo as the headliner in 2023, and won both the light heavyweight and heavyweight titles in her second round knockout of WBC heavyweight champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse last summer in the building.
On Monday, June 16, Shields was bothered by a comment made by Daniels’ coach, John Conway. Conway stated that the team’s strategy to defeat Shields would be through unconventional fighting tactics, using his background in Muay Thai to teach Daniels unconventional punches and strategies.
“We’re not going to box you,” Conway said, addressing Shields. “We’re going to fight you in a Muay Thai style. This how we’re going to win, and we’ll take home the belts and the American dream.”
The comment irked Shields, who responded in a way only Claressa Shields can.
“Lani, if you come in there and you let your coach convince you to do that, you’re gonna be out quicker than what I thought,” Shields said with her trademark confidence and grin. “I would give you ‘til Round 6. You come out there and try to stand there in front of me and brawl with me, I promise you – you said stretcher today? You will be going out on one.
“It’s best to use your skills and tighten up that defense and keep them hands up, ’cause all these other girls you fought against, they may have been a little bigger, but they were not as skilled as me and they wasn’t as sharp, they wasn’t as fast.”
It would sound like overconfidence if it wasn’t coming from Shields, who many consider the greatest female boxer of all time. Shields’ resume is only 16 fights, but in those fights, she’s amassed a collection of belts greater than most boxers earn over a whole career. Shields is the only boxer ever to become undisputed champion in three weight divisions, having won undisputed titles in light middleweight, middleweight and heavyweight. She has two gold medals. She’s only been defeated once in the boxing ring when she lost to Savannah Marshall as an amateur, and she later defeated Marshall as a pro.
Shields is a confident boxer because she’s won again and again and very few have been able to challenge her. She recently defeated perhaps the most feared women’s heavyweight boxer, Danielle Perkins, who stands nearly four inches taller than Shields’ 5-foot-8 frame.
Shields is still a relative newcomer to the heavyweight class, but she’s proven herself against the best. There are few indications that Daniels will be able to beat her, either. Daniels seemed to know that when the two were asked how far they thought the fight would go.
“I was giving Lani Round 7, and I’m gonna knock her out, you know, up to Round 7,” Shields said, explaining her thoughts before the conference. “But from what her coach got there and said today, that done piss me clean off, saying that she gonna stand there and fight me and she gonna brawl at me. It may be another second or third round knockout, man, I’m not even gonna lie to you. Second or third.”
Daniels’ response was less enthusiastic.
“If we’re talking numbers, I think I stop her in Round 9,” Daniels said.
“You ain’t stopped nobody,” Shields said.
When asked how she could defeat Shields in Round 9, Daniels gave a less-than-inspiring answer.
“I have to make it there,” Daniels said.
Shields just laughed.
Shields vs. Daniels is on Saturday, July 26 at 6 p.m. at Little Caesars Arena. Tickets start at $50 on Ticketmaster. The match will be streamed on DAZN.
