Claressa Shields has continued her dominant streak after another impressive outing in her first title defense as the undisputed champion of the women’s heavyweight division. Shields headlined a Salita Promotions card against New Zealand opponent Lani Daniels on Saturday, July 20, in her home state of Michigan in the city of Detroit at the Little Caesars Arena.
Claressa Shields vs. Lani Daniels
Roughly 5 months after becoming the undisputed women’s heavyweight (175+ lbs) champion, Claressa Shields (17-0, 3 KO’s) continued to set herself apart as one of the best female fighters of this era as she cleanly defeated challenger Lani Daniels (11-3-2, 1 KO’s) by unanimous decision (UD) to retain her titles.
The match started firmly in Shields’ favor as the American undisputed champion took the lead, lightly pressuring and testing Daniels in the earlier rounds ― a faster start atypical to her usual tendency to start slow. Daniels was slightly difficult to land on as she used elusive footwork and her head and body movement to throw Shields off, resulting in the New Zealand fighter from launching her own set of attacks.
To offset Daniels’ attempts and frequent movement around the ring, Claressa Shields began implementing body shots to slow the challenger down, giving Shields some relative success in landing combinations. As Lani Daniels began clearly buckling under the pressure, Shields stepped up her activity but that seemed to finally stir Daniels who began becoming more active herself.
Despite the resistance and toughness that Lani Daniels displayed, Claressa Shields always seemed a step ahead even in the final rounds where Daniels’ late rally appeared to be an issue. Emphasizing her own toughness and efficiency, Shields closed out the last round with harder and more accurate shots as if to prove a point as the two fighters exchanged.
Following the culmination of the final 10th round, Claressa Shields would be announced the winner by unanimous decision through the judges’ scores of 100-90, and 99-91 twice.
Having retained all her titles, Shields’ last challenging opponent in the division, Lani Daniels, remains the IBF champion at light-heavyweight (175 lbs) but now counts as the last perceivable fighter at heavyweight or light-heavyweight to pose a threat to Shields, unfortunately placing Shields in the position of perhaps needing to move down to super middleweight (168 lbs) which currently has two unified champions in WBO and IBF champion Shadasia Green (16-1, 11 KO’s) and WBA and WBC champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn (10-2, 2 KO’s).
In the ring, Shields has shared a past with Crews, the two having engaged against one another during their professional debuts in 2016 with both women going on to become world champions in their own right.
Undercard fights:
Featured in the co-main event, Detroit-native Tony Harrison (30-4-1, 24 KO’s) returned to the ring after a stint of two years out following his empathetic loss to Tim Tszyu in 2023. Fighting at middleweight (160 lbs), a division Harrison has fought in before but never fully settled on, the American contender was matched against Dominican journeyman Edward Ulloa Diaz (15-7, 12 KO’s).
Expectedly, Harrison’s struggles were evident as ring rust and a tough opponent in Diaz culminated in a hard-fought but well-earned UD win with scores of 96-93, 98-91 and 97-92.
American women’s super lightweight (140 lbs) contender Samantha Worthington (12-0, 7 KO’s) retained her unbeaten record in a majority decision (MD) victory over high-rated French contender Victoire Piteau (14-3, 2 KO’s),
