Claressa Shields turns heads at weigh-in
The undisputed women’s heavyweight champion wore high heels, a fur coat, an eye-catching swimsuit and a G.W.O.A.T. chain around her neck.
Before Shields stepped on the scale, someone brushed her long blond hair and she flexed her biceps. Her official weight: 174.6 pounds.
Shields’ opponent, New Zealander Lani Daniels, showed up at the weigh-in wearing a bucket hat and a fishing vest while paying tribute to the indigenous Maori. She is of Maori descent.
With Shields’ undisputed heavyweight world title on the line, promoter Dmitriy Salitas said he expects Shields (16-0, 3 KOs) will be fighting Daniels (11-2-2, 1 KO) in front of a sellout crowd of 19,000 at Little Caesars Arena.
Daniels, 37, is the current IBF light heavyweight champion and held the IBF world heavyweight title in 2023.
“She’s not as big as Danielle Perkins,’’ Shields said, referring to her last opponent, “but she’s very elusive. She’s fast, she’s aggressive, she’s very awkward and I look forward to figuring it out and fighting her on Saturday.
“I am very great at being very strategic and figuring out how about putting my opponent through the most pain and beat ’em up in here. And that’s my own goal is just to beat her up. I want to beat Lani Daniels up. I want to put her on an entertaining fight. I want to collect some more belts and I want to continue to let everybody know I’m the greatest woman of all time because the things that I do these other girls can’t do.’’
