FLINT, Mich. — After a year of waiting, Claressa Shields faces Marie-Eve Dicaire in the main event of an all-women’s pay-per-view event Friday night at the Dort Financial Center in Flint. This will be the first boxing pay-per-view in 20 years to be headlined by a women’s fight, and a limited crowd will be in attendance.
The winner of this fight will become the undisputed junior middleweight champion. If Shields gets the victory, she will become the first boxer in the four-belt era (WBC, WBO, WBA and IBF) to be undisputed champion in two divisions. She won the undisputed middleweight championship after defeating Christina Hammer by unanimous decision in April 2019.
Shields (10-0, 2 KOs), who has also won titles at super middleweight, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2012 and 2016). She won the WBC and WBO 154-pound titles in a decision victory over Ivana Habazin in January 2020. Shields hasn’t lost a fight since 2012, a four-round decision against Savannah Marshall when Shields was still fighting as an amateur.
Dicaire (17-0, 0 KOs) won the IBF junior middleweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Ogleidis Suarez in November 2019. This will be Dicaire’s first fight in the U.S.
Also on the card, Danielle Perkins (2-0, 1 KO) faces Monika Harrison (2-1-1, 1 KO) in a six-round heavyweight battle, Marlen Esparza (8-1, 1 KO) takes on Shelly Barnett (4-3-2, 0 KOs) in a six-round bantamweight bout, and unbeaten middleweight Logan Holler (9-0-1, 3 KOs) faces Schemelle Baldwin (3-1-2, 2 KOs) in an eight-round middleweight fight. To start the broadcast, Jamie Mitchell (5-0-2, 3 KOs) meets Noemi Bosques (12-15-3, 2 KOs) in a six-round bantamweight bout.
Fight in progress: Marlen Esparza vs. Shelly Barnett, 6 rounds, women’s bantamweights
Still to come:
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Title fight: Claressa Shields vs. Marie-Eve Dicaire, 10 rounds, for the undisputed (WBC, WBO, WBA, IBF) women’s junior middleweight championship
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Danielle Perkins vs. Monika Harrison, 6 rounds, women’s heavyweights
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Jamie Mitchell vs. Noemi Bosques, 6 rounds, women’s bantamweights