Claressa Shields is no stranger to making boxing history. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, she became the sport’s first two-division undisputed champion, male or female. It seems she has no intention of stopping there. The Flint, Michigan-born champion may now be aiming for the unprecedented achievement of becoming an undisputed champion in a third division.

Shields, who returned to MMA in February last year, surprised everyone with a move to the light heavyweight/heavyweight division. She fought Vanessa Lepage Joanisse for the WBO light heavyweight and WBC and WBF heavyweight titles. Latest reports suggest the five-division champion will begin the year with a title defense. Scheduled on February 2, she will face the Brooklyn-born heavyweight fighter Danielle Perkins. If Shields wins the fight, she could claim the historic undisputed title in the division and achieve a feat comparable to Oleksandr Usyk‘s, who ended a 25-year drought among men. But is the road so easy for Claressa Shields?

Claressa Shields is close to achieving a historic milestone

Sharing a few details about the tickets, Claressa Shields sounded excited about her return to the ring this February. “I’LL BE FIGHTING IN MY HOMETOWN OF FLINT, MI, ON FEB 2nd AT @dortfinancialcenter! Get your tickets now on Etix.com!” she said in her Instagram post.

Discussing the prospect of Shields joining the ranks of living legends like Oleksandr Usyk, her promoter, Dmitriy Salita, shared his thoughts with Sky Sports. “What sets Claressa apart from everyone else in boxing—past or present—is her groundbreaking achievements as a pioneer in women’s sports. She has been the first to accomplish many feats, breaking barriers and opening doors for equality while remaining utterly dominant in the ring,” said Salita in the exclusive conversation.

A victory over Perkins would significantly bolster Shields’ chances of achieving a feat yet to be accomplished. To date, women’s boxing has never crowned an undisputed heavyweight champion.

42-year-old Danielle Perkins, a former amateur world champion, turned professional four years ago. However, following the 2021 fight against Monika Harrison, she went on a long break and returned only in March 2024. Currently, she holds a professional record of five fights, with two victories achieved by early stoppages.

But the bigger question remains: will it be easy for Claressa Shields to claim the title of undisputed heavyweight champion?

Will the road to glory prove that straightforward?

The fight at Flint’s Dort Financial Center features the following heavyweight belts at stake: WBC, WBA (vacant), WBO (vacant), IBF (vacant), and WBF. However, in the four-belt era, the WBA must be part of the triumvirate of WBC, WBO, and IBF to make the title undisputed. Reportedly, the Panama-based World Boxing Association (WBA) has yet to award a heavyweight title to a female boxer.

An interesting anomaly has come to light. The poster featured on Shields’ Instagram referred to the February 2 battle as the ‘undisputed heavyweight world championship’. The one on the WBC website labeled it the ‘unified world heavyweight championship’.

Essentially, without the WBA belt, the fight with Perkins may be confined to the unified championship. However, some reports suggest that a workaround is being considered. There’s a possibility that the WBA may, as a first, establish the heavyweight division for women. Once the WBA enters the picture, Shields could potentially stake her claim and become the first-ever women’s undisputed heavyweight champion.

What’s your take? Between Perkins and Shields, who do you pick to win on February 2?

Shields is more than happy to fight the former two-division UFC champion inside the ring or the cage

The self-proclaimed GWOAT of boxing, Claressa Shields, recently revealed how former UFC champion Amanda Nunes played a role in her move to mixed martial arts.

Inside the squared circle, no woman has accomplished more than Shields. Aside from being a multi-time world champion in five different weight classes, she is one of only four boxers in history, female or male, to hold all four major world titles in boxing—WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO—in two weight classes. Shields is also a two-time Olympic gold medalist, topping the podium at both the 2012 and 2016 Summer Games.

After dominating the sweet science, Shields opted to trade in her eight-ounce gloves for a pair of four-ouncers, making her mixed martial arts debut under the Professional Fighters League banner.

Claressa Shields Isn’t Afraid to Fight Amanda Nunes, Whether It Be in the Ring or the Cage

During a recent appearance on The Art of Ward with boxing legend Andre Ward, Shields revealed the role that former two-division UFC queen Amanda Nunes played in getting her to make the move from the ring to the cage. Shields also made it clear that while ‘The Lioness’ holds an undeniable advantage in MMA, Nunes would get outclassed real quick in a boxing match between the two.

“I said, are y’all stupid? In a boxing match, I would destroy Amanda Nunes,” Shields said. “Let’s be real now. MMA? Pump your brakes. I’ve got to put in some years and years for that. But boxing? Stop playing with me—with my left and my right.”

So Amanda said, ‘Tell Claressa she’ll come to my world, and I’ll choke the [expletive] out of her.’ That’s what she said. And I said, ‘This girl thinks I’m scared of getting choked? You think I’m scared of fighting her?’ Yeah, I’m gonna show these girls. I fight—I will fight y’all, but y’all won’t fight me. It’s two different fights—apples and oranges. I will come over there and peel that orange, but you won’t come over here and bite this apple. It’s two different things.

So, for me, it was just to tug at them, make them mad, to show them. Like, I knew it was going to be hard, but I actually enjoy MMA.”

Shields is 2-1 in MMA after alternating wins and losses in her first three appearances. She came out on top in her PFL debut in June 2021, scoring a third-round TKO against Brittney Elkin. She followed that up with a closely-contested split decision loss against Abigail Montes before climbing back into the win column via a decision W over Kelsey DeSantis.

While Shields has spent a considerable amount of time training for her future in MMA, that hasn’t stopped her from continuing to kick ass inside the ring. In July, she scored a second-round TKO against Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse to claim the WBC and WBF female heavyweight championships.

Published on January 6, 2025 at 10:21 pm