Claressa Shields vs Lani Daniels: Champ reveals Rick Ross hotel hunt after ringwalk with rapper

Shields wants to ‘whoop’ Muhammad Ali’s daughter, Laila

Claressa Shields says rapper Rick Ross had to take a “bad hotel” before starring in the undisputed heavyweight champion’s ringwalk for her points win over Lani Daniels at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena.

Flint fighter Shields attracted one of the largest crowds of her career as a headliner to the arena, selling more than 15,000 tickets and leaving Ross, who has a reported net worth of around $150 million, struggling for accommodation options.

“Somebody was like ‘all right, man – we’re going to get you a good hotel,’ explained Shields. “But he was like ‘we’re at the rehearsals – champ, there ain’t no more hotels, man.’

“I said ‘yeah – because I sold this out.’ You all had Rick Ross at a bad hotel because all of the hotels were sold out.”

Claressa Shields vs Lani Daniels

IBF light-heavyweight champion Daniels suffered the first loss of her 11-fight career with a 100-90, 99-91, 99-91 defeat on the scorecards.

“She fought a hard fight,” Shields said of the Maori. I hit her with some big shots – I broke her to the body, I broke her down to the head. I mixed it up on her.

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“Loni is very, very tough and I knew she would be tough. Her head was moving a lot and she headbutted me twice, and that was something I had to be on the lookout for.

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

Shields vs Daniels: Champ ‘grateful’

Shields suggested Daniels was “scared” and “terrified” as she danced around the ring early in the fight. “She knew how strong and how much bigger than her I was,” the 30-year-old added.

“After the first two rounds, I cut off the ring and hit her with a couple of body shots, and then she slowed down.

“She had big hands. She may have been kind of afraid early on but she but her big girl panties on and fought me a little bit, and we were able to put on a great show in front of 15,000.

“I have been praying for a sold-out RCA since I first fought here and I didn’t think it was possible with just people from Flint and Detroit, and I was right about that.

“We had to bring Brooklyn, New York, Texas, Ohio, the UK. We had to bring New Zealand, Atlanta, Miami, Florida. They were here from everywhere: Texas, Cali, that’s what it was going to take to fill this place up.

“So everybody who’s from Flint and Michigan, I thank you for always showing up and being consistent, because I knew at least 11,000 from Flint and Detroit would be here.

“But the last 5,000 who came were from all over the world, and I’m so grateful for that.”

Will Shields fight Muhammad Ali’s daughter Leila?

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s daughter, Laila Ali, has been linked to a $15 million fight against Shields, while the late sporting great’s ex-wife, Khalilah Ali, has spent time with Shields in camp and was at her fight against Daniels.

Khalilah Ali, who is not Laila Ali’s mother, is backing Shields to win a potential fight with the 47-year-old former world champion, who has not fought competitively since 2007.

“I always thank her for being here,” said Shields, who now has a perfect 17-fight record, discussing Khalilah Ali. “I am trying to whoop Leila Ali’s ass.”