Ahead of Claressa Shields' heavyweight showdown with Danielle Perkins in Michigan, we assess the two fighters.
The two Americans will go head-to-head as Shields defends her WBC heavyweight title, while the vacant IBF and WBO titles are also up for grabs at the Dort Financial Center in her home town of Flint, Michigan.
Perkins will attempt to become the first woman to beat Shields, who has enjoyed a stellar middleweight career but fights again at heavyweight after seeing off Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse last July.
Fighter Bio: | Claressa Shields | Danielle Perkins |
Age: | 29 | 42 |
Nickname: | The GWOAT | Skippity Paps |
Height: | 5′ 8″ | 6′ 0″ |
Reach: | 68" | 72" |
Weight: | Middleweight/Heavyweight | Heavyweight |
Trainer: | John David Jackson | Darnell Pierce |
Record: | 15-0-0 | 5-0-0 |
Last Fight: | Win by TKO v Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse | Win v Christianne Fahey |
After winning Middleweight gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Shields turned professional in November 2016 and quickly won her first bout, against Franchon Crews-Dezurn, by unanimous decision.
The Flint native further enhanced her reputation with wins in 2017 over Sydney LeBlanc and Nikki Adler before victories followed the next year over Tori Nelson, Hanna Gabriels, Hannah Rankin and Femke Hermans.
By March 2021, when defeating Marie-Eve Dicaire, Shields had retained the WBC and WBO light middleweight titles and also won the IBF, the vacant WBA (Super), and inaugural The Ring female light middleweight titles.
A memorable victory over British star Savannah Marshall came in October 2022 at The O2 in London and subsequent wins over Maricela Cornejo and Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse have extended her stunning unbeaten record to 15.
Shields is one of the best female boxers of all time and the three-division champion is the only women's fighter to be undisputed champion in two different divisions (junior middleweight and middleweight) in the four-belt era.
The 29-year-old is also a former unified super middleweight champion and, in total, has held multiple world championships in five weight classes.
Strengths | Weaknesses |
Power | Lack of heavyweight experience |
Aggression | |
Speed | |
Vast experience |
Perkins is originally from Brooklyn in New York, but now trains in Houston and, with just five professional fights on her record, she is much less experienced than Shields, despite being 13 years older.
Her pro bow came against Monika Harrison in August 2020 and she followed up that victory three months later when defeating Princess Hairston.
A second win over Harrison extended her winning record to three in March 2021 before she decided to take a break from boxing.
After three years away from the ring, Perkins saw off Timea Nagy last March and then overcame Christianne Fahey most recently, winning their clash in July at Little Ceasars Arena in Detroit.
This showdown with Shields clearly represents Perkins' most difficult test as she puts her own five-fight unbeaten record on the line against one of the best female boxers of all time.
Strengths | Weaknesses |
Size | Lack of big-fight experience |
Power |
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Odds mentioned in this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.