Claressa Shields to make heavyweight title defence against Lani Daniels in Detroit on July 26

Claressa Shields will return to Detroit to make a heavyweight championship defence on July 26.

New Zealand’s Lani Daniels will challenge Shields for the undisputed heavyweight title at the Little Caesars Arena.

Shields became the first undisputed heavyweight champion in women’s boxing when she beat Danielle Perkins earlier this year to unify the WBA, WBO, IBF and WBC belts.

Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and unbeaten professional champion at super-welter, middle and super-middleweight, dropped Perkins on course to taking unanimous points decision.

The 36-year-old Daniels is the IBF’s light-heavyweight world titlist, having previously been their heavyweight champion. She is unbeaten in her last nine bouts with a 11-2-2 (1) record.

The home of the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons opened in 2017, but the Little Caesars Arena didn’t have a boxing card until almost two years ago when Shields was the headliner and beat Maricela Cornejo.

Shields, from Flint, Michigan, was back there last summer when knocking out WBC heavyweight champion Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse in front of about 12,000 fans and will likely be a big draw for a third time in July.

“Women’s boxing has grown by leaps and bounds since Claressa Shields headlined the very first women’s main event on a nationally televised card,” her promoter Dmitriy Salita said.

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