Claressa Shields Eases Past Lani Daniels To Defend Undisputed Heavyweight Title

Claressa Shields retained her undisputed women’s heavyweight title pinch a commanding unanimous determination complete Lani Daniels connected Saturday nighttime astatine Little Caesars Arena successful Detroit.

The judges scored nan bout 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91 successful favour of Shields, who improved to 17-0 (3 KOs). It marked nan 3rd consecutive main arena quality successful Detroit for nan 30-year-old Flint autochthonal and two-time Olympic golden medalist, who remains nan only boxer successful nan four-belt era to go an undisputed champion successful 3 different weight classes.

Daniels (11-3-2, 1 KO), a 37-year-old erstwhile IBF ray heavyweight titleholder from New Zealand, offered small early discourtesy and spent nan opening rounds circling nan ring. Shields was forced to property nan action and gradually took power pinch superior timing, footwork and punch variety.

By nan mediate rounds, Shields had closed nan region and was landing accordant assemblage shots and combinations to nan head. Daniels began to guidelines her crushed successful nan sixth and seventh rounds but struggled to lucifer Shields’ output aliases accuracy.

The last rounds featured much two-way action, but Shields remained successful power done cleaner changeable action and sharper counters. She outlanded Daniels successful each information and neutralized her opponent’s precocious unit pinch disciplined defense and calculated exchanges.

The conflict capped an 11-bout paper broadcast connected Dazn and drew an announced crowd of 15,366. Shields’ erstwhile 2 appearances astatine Little Caesars Arena besides headlined boxing’s return to a venue that hadn’t hosted a awesome paper until her 2023 triumph complete Maricela Cornejo.

In nan co-main event, Detroit’s Tony Harrison (30-4-1, 21 KOs) returned aft a 28-month layoff and scored a unanimous-decision triumph complete Edward Diaz (15-7, 12 KOs) contempt being dropped successful nan ninth round. Harrison, a erstwhile super-welterweight champion, was fighting for nan first clip since losing to Tim Tszyu successful 2023.