After Claressa Shields improved to 17-0 with her win at Little Caesars Arena over Lani Daniels on July 26, who's next for the undisputed champ?
Claressa Shields seems to have done it all.
Undisputed world champion in five weight classes. The only boxer, male or female, to hold all four major belts in three weight classes. Two-time Olympic gold medalist. She has beaten champion after champion and taken their belts, piling them onto the tables at the media availabilities ahead of conquering her next victim.
The latest victim, of course, was Lani Daniels, whom Shields defeated by unanimous decision in front of an adoring home crowd of 15,369 at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, July 26.
And so, the question is: Who is left for Shields to fight?
“I don’t know,” Shields said. “These girls are just to easy to beat. Man, people think it’s all about the knockouts. I got in there and I win 10 rounds, easy.”
Daniels didn’t make it that easy, despite what seemed like a lopsided matchup: A 16-0 Shields (with 3 KOs) coming off a win over one of the most feared women’s heavyweight fighters on the circuit in Danielle Perkins. She beat Perkins in February in Flint with a torn labrum to claim the undisputed heavyweight title. The injury meant she couldn’t access one of her most crucial punches – the jab – and she still defeated Perkins.
Daniels didn’t stand much of a chance against a healthy Shields.
Daniels knew that, though. It required a different strategy – “running,” according to Shields.
For the first two rounds, Daniels evaded hit after hit, darting around the ring and forcing Shields to chase her, while not giving her the opportunity to land many hard-hitting punches.
“She knew how strong I was and knew how much bigger I was than her, and she didn’t want to feel that power in the first two rounds,” Shields said. “And I think she was scared. I think she was terrified, but after the first two rounds, after cutting the ring off, and I hit her with a couple body shots, she slowed down, and that’s when she had to fight me.”
By Round 3, Daniels and Shields had settled in. Daniels was still evading whenever possible, but she also crowded Shields into corners to prevent her from using her full range and power to knock Daniels back.
Shields still managed to hit Daniels with more force than anything Daniels could muster, consistently maintaining the upper hand. She also found ways to work herself off the ropes just enough that she could escape any onslaught Daniels attempted. And she thoroughly dominated whenever she was in the center of the ring.
“I’m not a person who’s scared of the ropes,” Shields said. “Once I feel them, I know that they there, but I’m not a person who’s scared to fight off the ropes.”
Shields wanted a knockout, as always, but Daniels’ positioning meant she couldn’t land the uppercut to the head that she wanted. Instead, she went to work on Daniels’ body.
“I was really trying to break her down to the body today,” Shields said. “That’s probably the most body work I’ve done in a lot of fights. Usually they so easy to get to the head. I just take them all down here, take them off the head. But Lani, she got took to hell to the body tonight.”
Ultimately, Daniels’ defense didn’t matter much. Shields won convincingly in front of an adoring crowd.
What’s next for her is unknown, though she has reportedly challenged Laila Ali, the 47-year-old daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali – and a boxing legend in her own right, despite her 2007 retirement – to a fight with a $15 million purse.
Contact Matthew Auchincloss at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Claressa Shields showed why she dominates women's boxing. What's next?
Category: General Sports
