Tale of the tape
Here’s a look at how Shields and Perkins measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. Perkins comes in with four-inch advantages in both height and weight. But Shields is 13 years her junior with an overwhelming edge in experience.
Key events
Round 5
A quiet round but more methodical work from the champion. Perkins is boxing with more confidence but Shields continuing to try and find a home for the overhand right, throwing and landing more punches. Shields in total control.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Perkins (Shields 49-46 Perkins)
Round 4
Perkins seems to have found her legs in the minute between rounds. But how will she react to having tasted Shields’ power. Shields pot-shotting economically, landing a crisp counter left. Perkins not throwing much. A triple jab by Shields, who is boxing with confidence. She’s timing Perkins, waiting on that big shot. It won’t come this round but an easy round to score for the champion.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Perkins (Shields 39-37 Perkins)
Round 3
Shields detonates and overhand right hand on Perkins’ jaw in the opening seconds and Perkins is hurt! She’s badly hurt! Perkins is all over the place. She wisely holds on as the crowd chants “Whoop that trick!” Oh dear! Perkins is holding on for dear life. She has no legs. Perkins goes down but the referee rules it a slip. Shields is loading up on her shots but can’t find the target. Perkins saved by the bell!
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Perkins (Shields 29-28 Perkins)
Round 2
Shields looks a bit more wary of Perkins’ long reach at the start of the second. They touch gloves as they feel one another out. The southpaw Perkins lands a few pawing right jabs. Shields lands a right hand on Perkins’ beltline. The round ends with Perkins bursting forward and throwing a barrage of punches, with only one or two finding the target. The challenger did just enough to nick it there. Shields needs up her activity and cannot walk straight in.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 9-10 Perkins (Shields 19-19 Perkins)
Round 1
Perkins takes the center of the ring and tries to impose her physical advantages with the jab. Shields lunges into the pocket and lands a right to the midsection. Perkins is undeterred and stays on the front foot. Shields begins letting her hands go and lands a couple a crisp shots upstairs. Perkins, who’s probably rehydrated to nearly 190lb, looks so much bigger out there but Shields’ hand speed and timing are more than compensating.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Shields 10-9 Perkins (Shields 10-9 Perkins)
The fighter introductions have been made. The final instructions have been given by referee Ben Rodriguez, the seconds are out and we’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!
And here comes Claressa Shields. She’s accompanied by Papoose alongside a small troupe of musicians as she dances her way out of the tunnel and toward the ring, leading the crowd in a round of Whoop That Trick. This is her homecoming fight and she’s squeezing every drop from the atmosphere, beaming from behind a pair of designer sunglasses and wearing a black robe with gold trim.
Anthem time in Flint. First a performance of Lift Every Voice and Sing followed by the Star-Spangled Banner (refreshingly free of catcalls). Now Perkins is entering the arena. She’s wearing a black robe with red trim and making a very, very slow and measured walk to the ring. She looks calm and composed, climbing through the ropes and circling the ropes to polite cheers.
The final undercard fight between Moore and Lacy has descended into farce. First a cameraman in a corner was knocked off his platform. Then the fight itself devolved into a wrestling match with each fighter getting a point deducted for holding. Ultimately Moore was pushed through the ropes onto the announcers’ table, prompting referee Steve Willis to start a rare 20-count. Moore made it back into the squared circle around 18, right as Willis waved it off.
It’s going to go down as a win for Brandon Moore. According to Willis, the ruling is a disqualification for unsportsmanlike conduct at the 0:51 mark of the eighth round.
Tale of the tape
Here’s a look at how Shields and Perkins measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. Perkins comes in with four-inch advantages in both height and weight. But Shields is 13 years her junior with an overwhelming edge in experience.
The vibes in Shields’ dressing room are immaculate at the moment. The double Olympic champion is singing along to How I Look by GloRilla and Megan Thee Stallion as she gets her hands wrapped ahead of the main event.
One more preliminary fight before the main event. Brandon Moore (16-1, 10 KOs) and Skylar Lacy (8-0-2, 6 KOs) face off in a heavyweight scrap over a scheduled 10 rounds.
In the meantime here’s our interview with Claressa Shields around the release of The Fire Inside, her biopic released in December to widespread critical acclaim.
Joe Hicks has just scored an eighth-round TKO of Keon Papillion in the second-to-last undercard bout. The Grand Rapids super welterweight poured on the punishment over the second half before referee Ansel Stewart waved it off at the 1:35 mark in the seventh round of a scheduled eight-round scrap between undefeated prospects. According to Compubox’s punch statistics, Hicks landed 70 of 140 power shots. Solid work.
Hicks improves with 12-0 and eight wins by stoppage.
Claressa Shields is in the building. The WBC heavyweight champion arrived with special friend Papoose, the Brooklyn rapper, about an hour ago.
Preamble
Good evening and welcome to tonight’s undisputed women’s heavyweight championship bout between Claressa Shields and Danielle Perkins. Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-division champion, had no shortage of lucrative offers for this fight, where she will attempt to unify all four recognized world belts in a third different weight class. But when given the choice between a marquee venue like Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and a homecoming, she chose the Michigan city of Flint. “My dream is to fight at Barclays,” Shields said this week. “But the occasion calls for me to want to bring it back home because of the history of the fight – the first women’s undisputed championship at heavyweight.”
That decision is about more than just boxing. Shields has long been a symbol of Flint’s fighting spirit, a role cemented by her portrayal in The Fire Inside, a biopic released in December. A city once fueled by the auto industry, Flint has endured decades of economic decline, depopulation, and, most infamously, the water crisis that began in 2014 when lead contamination plagued its drinking supply. While officials insist the water is now safe and the city is making a comeback, many residents remain wary, and economic hardships persist.
Flint mayor Sheldon Neeley sees Shields as the embodiment of the city’s grit. “She really embodies the spirit of the city – coming from crisis to recovery,” he said. “It’s great that she chose her hometown to bring this great showcase here.”
A sellout crowd of 6,000 is expected tonight at Dort Financial Center, the home of the Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds, while thousands more will watch via Dazn. Shields (15-0, 3 KOs) is fresh off a dominant stoppage victory over Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse for the WBC’s version of the heavyweight title. She’s previously unified the four belts at both middleweight and light heavyweight.
Her opponent, Brooklyn’s Danielle Perkins (5-0, 2 KOs), a former college basketball player at St John’s University, is relishing the newfound attention. “I always have told Claressa that I do always appreciate everything that she’s done for boxing,” said Perkins, who hails from Brooklyn. “Her coming up to the heavyweight division is the best thing that could have ever happened to me in my entire life. No one at any point ever cared about this division until Claressa came up here.”
Stay with us for round-by-round updates, analysis and reaction from Flint, where Shields and Perkins should make their ringwalks in a little more than an hour’s time.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s a look at yesterday’s weigh-in.