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Eric Woodyard
FLINT, Mich. — Claressa Shields has entered a league of her own.
The undefeated world champion boxer captured the undisputed heavyweight title with a unanimous decision victory over previously unbeaten Danielle Perkins on Sunday night. She dropped Perkins with a right hook in the final seconds of the 10th and final round to secure the victory.
With the win, she became the first boxer, male or female, in the four-belt era to become the undisputed champion in three different weight classes (junior middle, middle and heavyweight).
She holds the WBC, WBF, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles. For women’s boxing, the heavyweight division is considered 175 pounds and up.
Shields (16-0, 3 KOs) said she passed on an opportunity to fight at Barclays Center in New York so she could return to Michigan for a homecoming bout at the Dort Financial Center in Flint.
In her heavyweight debut July 27 in Detroit, she scored a second-round TKO victory over Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse with Perkins on the undercard.
Shields, 29, is ESPN’s No. 1-ranked heavyweight and No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter but said the fire still burns inside her to cement her place in history, even as she has dubbed herself the “G.W.O.A.T” — Greatest Woman of All-Time.
“It ain’t enough. That’s how I think. I think that I didn’t get my flowers for so many years so even though I’m getting them now, it’s like that’s not enough,” Shields said. “I deserve more than that. I’m fighting for a million dollars. So. I’m supposed to be getting paid five. This ain’t it. So, for me, that’s where the fire comes from.”