Claressa Shields was once again under the light heavyweight limit, though this time in a fully sanctioned heavyweight bout. (photo by Adam Dewey)
The Ring’s pound-for-pound queen was complete with a full-length Fendi fur coat for Saturday’s ceremonial weigh-in. Shields weighed 173.6 pounds for her undisputed heavyweight championship clash with Danielle Perkins, who weighed a near career-lightest 177.2 pounds.
Shields (15-0, 3 KOs) defends her WBC heavyweight title, and also aims to capture the vacant WBA, IBF and WBO belts. Perkins has the same goal in mind as she enters her first career title fight. Their scheduled ten-round contest will air live this Sunday on DAZN from Dort Financial Center in Shields’ hometown of Flint, Michigan.
The fight marks the second straight for Shields above the super middleweight limit.
She weighed 174.8 pounds in a July 27 ten-round decision win over Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse last July 27 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. Lepage-Joanisse was the reigning WBC heavyweight titlist entering the fight, while Shields also claimed the vacant WBO light heavyweight belt with the victory.
The two-belt win prompted Shields’ marketing team to sell her as a five-division titlist. She previously held the WBC and IBF super middleweight titles and was The Ring and undisputed champion at both middleweight and junior middleweight.
Sunday’s bout will just come with heavyweight hardware at stake. The Ring does not carry rankings above super middleweight on the women's side of boxing.
Perkins is the mandatory heavyweight challenger for all four sanctioning bodies. The 42-year-young 6’2” southpaw—originally from Brooklyn, New York but who trains in promoter Marshall Kauffman’s facility in Houston, Texas—has gradually decreased in weight since her first full year as a pro when she was in the mid-to-high 190s.
Her most recent bout came on Shields’ undercard last July 27. Perkins was a career-lightest 175 ½ pounds in a six-round, unanimous decision win over Christianne Fahey.
The showdown with Shields is Perkins’ first fight scheduled for ten rounds, having only fought four-, six- and eight-rounders.
The DAZN telecast will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT. The main event start time is expected closer to 10:45 p.m. ET.
Jake Donovan is part of the U.S. team for The Ring. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.