Sunday night in the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, defeated two-time Olympic gold medal winner Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields in the main event Danielle Perkins, now 5-1, with a tenth round to nine dim rounds. The victory gave Shields the IBF, WBO, WBA, WBC and WBF worldwide heavyweight titles.
Both weighed less than 175 pounds, and perhaps in women’s box, it is heavyweight, although in men’s box it is a light heavyweight.
Shields came under severe criticism for defending her title against someone with only five battles. Sometimes she seems to be reluctant by the big size of her opponent to engage her in battle until the later rounds.
As a writer, I covered Shields’ battle in April of 2019 against the Christina Hammer of Kazakhstan, then 24-0, from Germany, who was the WBC and WBO middle weight champion. When Hammer went on the attack, American referee Sparkle Lee would have interfered and stopped her attack. Although the scores were twice 99-91 and 98-92, it was my opinion Hammer was treated unfairly.
In the Hamer dressing room I wanted to tell her how she was cheated, but promoter Tom Loefler stood there and said I shouldn’t talk it. After leaving the room, I told her how in my opinion she was still a champion. A woman sitting there, who I have no idea who was, cried over the loss.
Hammer has taken the loss very hard, and has only fought four winning times since. In her second game, she won the vacant WIBF Super Middleweight title in Germany, just like all her other games. After her final victory in May 2022, she retired with a record of 28-1 and 13.
Shields has since won seven games, with her previous battle over an opponent with a record of 7-1.
When he looks back at some other women’s boxers, several come in mind, such as IBO and WIBF Super Lightweight Champion Lucia ‘The Dutch Destroyer’ Rijer, 17-0 with 14 stops from the Netherlands. The other is IBA and Wiba Light Heavyweight Champion Ann ‘Brown Sugar’ Wolfe, 24-1 with 16 stops from Waco, Texas, one woman who was beaten hard.
Others are known to be the daughter of the former world champion for heavyweight Muhammad ‘the biggest’ Ali, WBC, and the Wiba Super Middleweight Champion Laila ‘She Bee Stingin’ Ali, 24-0 with 21 downtime, which retired when she became pregnant.
One of her opponents was the daughter of former heavyweight champion ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier, ‘Sister Smoke’ Jacqui Frazier Lyde, 13-1 with nine Stoppages, GBU Super Middleweight and Uba Heavyweight Champion. Another was WBC Super Welterweight Champion Christy ‘Coalminer’s Daughter’ Martin, 49-7-3 with 32 stoppages, a pioneer for women’s box.
Twice Olympic, 2012 gold medalist WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF, and IBO Super Lightweight Champion Katie Taylor, 24-1 with 6 Stoppages, from Ireland.
Regina Halmich, WIBF Super Flyweight Champion Germany, had 54-1-1 with 16 stops very poor opposition with 40 title defense.
