Claressa Shields has boxed in Detroit before. But this may be her biggest fight yet – not just for her, but for the sport she loves.
Claressa Shields has boxed in Detroit before. But this may be her biggest fight yet – not just for her, but for the sport she loves.
Shields is set to face Lani Daniels at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, July 26, in defense of her undisputed heavyweight championship. But before that fight – which will be carried on DAZN – there was a news conference on Wednesday, July 23, in which Shields spent much of her time promoting the undercard fights and her own work in the community.
It was in stark contrast to the June's availability, which featured big talk between Shields and Daniels. Then, Daniels’ coach, John Conway, talked about “brawling” Shields and using Muay Thai techniques, which irritated Daniels. On Wednesday, Conway walked back much of that.
“I said last time we were coming with Muay Thai punches,” Conway said. “That’s gone. We’re coming with boxing punches because we are boxers. This Muay Thai thing was rubbish. It was a little game I played that people fell for. So this is a true boxing fight. Lani is a pure boxer. I’m a pure-boxer trainer.”
Conway and Daniels were conciliatory towards Shields, who mostly returned the favor, saying she knew not to underestimate Daniels despite being the clear favorite in the match. She joked about how she couldn’t let Daniels win because of the match’s locale.
“I want her to know that my mama be there, my niece’ll be there, Wynn Records’ll be there, my man will be there. Girl, I cannot let you beat me up!” Shields said, laughing. “You know I can’t do it. A lot on the line here!”
In her second stint at the podium, Shields highlighted her partners and her own work in growing women’s boxing. Two of Saturday’s four undercard matches are women’s matches. Samantha Worthington (11-0-0) will take on Victoire Piteau (14-2-0) in a 10-round fight for the vacant WBA women’s junior welterweight interim title, and Caroline Veyre (9-1) will fight Licia Boudersa (23-3-2) in a 10-round match for the featherweight title.
The other side of the undercard shows her work in growing Detroit boxing. The heavyweight card will showcase an eight-round bout beween undefeated heavyweight prospect Pryce Taylor (8-0-0) and Saginaw native Robert Simms (12-4-1). The crown jewel of the undercard is the return of former WBC super welterweight champion Tony Harrison (29-4-1), a Detroit native, against middleweight contender Edward Ulloa Diaz (15-6-0).
Shields’ first stint at the podium brought an abrupt addendum to Jonathan “Bushman” Dunnings’ introduction of Harrison. Shields took issue with Dunnings' understated introduction of Harrison.
“Tony’s a good guy," Dunnings said. "He’s fighting, ready to get back out in the ring this Saturday.”
Shields, who said she has long admired Harrison, interjected before Harrison got to the podium.
“That’s not how we announce Tony Harrison,” Shields said.
That brought a quick apology from Dunnings of “My bad!”
“I’m sorry, that’s not how you do that,” Shields continued. “First of all, I’ve been knowing Tony Harrison since I was 11 years old. He was my favorite fighter in the amateurs. And then also, Tony Harrison is a former world champion. He beat Jermell Charlo. So that’s former champion Tony Harrison, decorated amateur, born and raised in Detroit. I’d like to announce Tony Harrison to the mic!”
Harrison has not fought since 2023 – a ninth-round TKO loss to Tim Tszyu for the interim WBO junior middleweight title. On Wednesday, he described this chapter of his boxing career as “The Gentleman,” a stark contrast to the vicious trash talk from earlier in his career.
“I’m letting my hands do the talking,” Harrison said. “At this point, it’s just to go out there and have a good time. I love the sport of boxing, but it’s really just to go out there and have a good time. I’m not here to prove nothing to nobody. I’m just here to let my hands do the talking, run the agg up and get to another world championship that they said I couldn’t do and do it again and then drop the mic.”
Saturday's fights are already sold out, reportedly to a unique boxing audience. Mark Taffet, Shields' manager, said more than 70% of the 15,000 tickets have been purchased by women.
“We’ve never seen women like this before in boxing,” Taffet said. “Yeah, there have been some legends that fought before, but there’ve never been fights top to bottom, depth top to bottom, breadth. This is women’s boxing’s time.”
Saturdy's undercard fights begin at 5:30 p.m, with Shields and Daniels scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
Contact Matthew Auchincloss at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Champ Claressa Shields boosts women's boxing with packed undercard
Category: General Sports
