Claressa Shields Floors Perkins in Historic Victory, Benavidez vs. Morrell Results, Arnold Barboza vs. Jack Catterall, Keyshawn Davis vs. Denys Berinchyk!

Claressa Shields has once again set the trend. This past Saturday she became the first person regardless of gender to become an undisputed champion in three weight classes.

Not only is this helping revitalize women's boxing, but it also draws attention to the sport as a whole. Danielle Perkins (5-1-1), a Brooklyn native, gave it her all in a fight many people believed she'd fall early to the vastly more experienced Shields. Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist with titles in five divisions, was in control of the fight from the start.

She knocked down Perkins, landing a right hand on her chin with 15 seconds left in the 10th and final round. Perkins, weighing 178 lbs and standing at 6 feet, was a few inches taller and a few inches heavier than Shields. The size advantage is what many people believed Perkins could use to beat Shields, but this was not enough.

Perkins' best work came when she rushed Shields and pressured her against the ropes, but even this did not seem to bother Shields much. She remained composed and looked for counterpunches at every opportunity possible. If there's a criticism to be made of Shields' performance, it was that she may have taken her foot off the gas in the later rounds. She was countering Perkins hard but wasn't exactly going all-out to finish the fight.

Shields had previously won the WBC heavyweight championship, but her victory over Perkins added the previously vacant WBO and IBF championship belts to her stacked trophy case.

[Barboza and Catterall Go To War on February 15th!]

Arnold Barboza is finally ready for his step-up. Barboza (31-0-0) has been on the fringe of the super-lightweight division for the last two years. He initially gained notoriety for calling out Teofimo Lopez and his father, Teofimo Sr. Barboza was Lopez's mandatory, and took every chance he had to let the boxing media know that Team Lopez was avoiding a fight with him. At the time, Top Rank and Matchroom were not yet under the same banner. The folks at Top Rank, or Lopez's advisors, clearly wanted to duck Barboza.

Whether this is for promotional reasons or the lack of a lucrative fight, it is clear that Lopez ducked a fight with Barboza. Nevertheless, Barboza insisted on showing up to Lopez's fights, at one point almost coming to a brawl in the crowd. Matchroom pushed for Barboza to earn this fight, but nothing materialized.

Now, in the fresh month of February 2025, Barboza has decided to go another route. Jack Catterall is a powder keg waiting to explode. Similarly to Barboza, Catterall (30-1-0) was robbed of massive opportunities at the world-level due to his loss in his first encounter with former Undisputed Super-Lightweight World Champion, Josh Taylor. Many fans from the UK believed Catterall won their fight, but nothing could change the result. Taylor went on to fight Teofimo Lopez, and the rest is history.

The common link between the Catterall and Barboza is the race for Lopez, but there are other monsters at 140-lbs both men will have to face if they plan on seizing one belt and becoming undisputed later. Catterall made light work of former WBC Super-Lightweight World Champion Regis Prograis, also known for his battle against Josh Taylor. Prograis, known for his durability and domination in the pocket, was dropped more than once against Catterall. This was enough for the general boxing public to see that Catterall was no slouch, that he meant business.

It was only natural for Matchroom to eventually pair up Barboza and Catterall, both are mid-level names in the division, and both need another solid name on their resume to catapult them into the world championship picture currently. Super-lightweight is a division that may be opening up very soon. If the rumors are to be taken seriously, Teofimo Lopez will vacate his WBO and The Ring Super-Lightweight World Championships and move up to welterweight.

This means that the winner of Catterall-Barboza has the potential to be elevated to full WBO World Champion, should the vacation of the belt be completed on paper. The stakes are incredibly high for both men, this is a must-win situation because the next fight could be a unification.

Waiting in the wing is Alberto Puello, who has become an interesting figure now that his mandatory challenger is Dalton Smith. In the event Puello's title defense in Brooklyn goes well and either Barboza or Catterall are bumped up to champion status, Puello could ignore his Smith and request a unification with the WBO. The other route is that Puello does honor his mandatory, and the winner faces Barboza or Catterall in a unification.

Boxing is a difficult sport to predict business-wise, so none of this could happen if Teofimo Lopez chooses to stay at 140-lbs, muddying the waters for all parties involved. Either way, the world is waiting patiently for February 15th. The card will be live from the UK at 5:30 PM ET, only on DAZN.

[Denys Berinchyk and Keyshawn Davis Clash in Madison Square Garden!]

Keyshawn Davis and Denys Berinchyk are shaking up the 135 lb division. The people have asked for Davis to fight significant competition in the lightweight division, and he has been given the biggest fight of his life in response. The world titles at lightweight have been scattered since Devin Haney vacated them and chose to move up to super-lightweight. The IBF title went vacant, contested between Lomachenko and George Kambosos for an IBF-IBO unification.

The WBO title was contested between Berinchyk and Navarrete, who fell to Berinchyk's volume punching. Shakur Stevenson and Edwin De Los Santos clashed in a pure-boxing match for the WBC version of the title, which has remained with Stevenson since. The WBA title has not changed hands since Gervonta “Tank” Davis won it against Yuriorkis Gamboa in December 2019, which eventually led to him being elevated to WBA Super World Champion in January 2024.

The lightweight division needs people willing to step up and unify, which is exactly what Keyshawn Davis plans to do in the event he wins. Davis has been eager for an opportunity to face Gervonta “Tank” Davis for some time. Devin Haney is another name he sought after, but is now unable to chase due to the present situation at 135 and Haney's new mission at 147. The fight between Keyshawn Davis and Denys Berinchyk got personal this week due to a racial spat between the two.

Apparently, Davis was sent a basket of watermelon and bananas, along with a note calling him “The Businesswoman”, a play on his ring name, “The Businessman.” Davis rightfully called Berinchyk out yesterday during their media face off. “This guy came to America to give me bananas and watermelon with a note on it. I took that as racist.” It is unclear whether or not Berinchyk was responsible for the racist “gift”, because this morning Teofimo Lopez posted a video of himself eating a banana and laughing, all while watching a video of Davis calling out Berinchyk for being racist. Lopez was a victim of Davis' pressure, although this was physical, unlike what Tank and Haney experienced.

Last summer during a press conference, Davis and Lopez were seated next to one another. “What made you mention my name in that interview? I've never disrespected you, Teo. And I took that as disrespect.” Visibly distraught, Lopez brought a piece of paper up to cover his mouth. “Good business, brother. I never meant to.” This run-in went viral, drawing Lopez and Davis closer to a potential fight. Although it never happened, an argument could be made that Lopez was the one who sent the racist gift to Davis.

The video of Lopez laughing was not enough to stop Berinchyk and Davis from heating up, however. During today's official Top Rank weigh in, Berinchyk shoved Davis off stage. Tension between the two men has boiled over, and the only thing separating them now is 24 hours. Davis vs. Berinchyk is on tomorrow night at 9 PM, only on ESPN+/Top Rank Boxing. To catch all the action, including the return of boxing's Prospect of The Year runner up, Abdullah Mason.

[David Benavidez vs. David Morrell, Boxing Masterpiece!]

David Benavidez has become the first man to unify an interim and regular world championship, marking a new chapter in boxing's history. His battle for respect in the 168 and now 175-lb divisions has been well documented, but this victory over David Morrell has given him new confidence that a bigger fight will come his way. Canelo Alvarez was the name Benavidez chased since he came back from losing the WBC Super-Middleweight World Championship due to missing weight.

Alvarez has ducked him several times, even pricing himself out by asking Turki Al-Al-Sheikh for $200 million for the fight. Benavidez's answer was to move up and chase more gold, which he did against Morrell. Morrell was no stepping stone for Benavidez, he was game across all 12 rounds of the WBC Interim-WBA Regular World Championship unification contest. In a battle between two undefeated monsters, Morrell put his best foot forward and put it all on the line.

Benavidez and Morrell arrived at a combined 40-0 with 33 KOs, many of which were scored at super middleweight while they simultaneously and fruitlessly tried to drag the multi-belted Alvarez into a fight. Fueled to perform at the highest level by weeks of heated trash talk between the two, the "Mexican Monster" was at his best through nearly every moment of a thrilling 12-round slugfest and ultimately emerged with an incredibly clear and deserved unanimous decision. Morrell demonstrated his toughness by taking Benavidez’s best punches and still coming forward with offense of his own.

Benavidez's counterpunching and combinations gave Morrell trouble, but it wasn't enough to discourage him from making attempts to exchange. Benavidez faced adversity after being subject to an incorrect knockdown called against him. Morrell backed Benavidez into the ropes during the middle minute of the 11th round. Benavidez blocked most of Morrell's shots, but Morrell knocked Benavidez off balance with a punch to the shoulder, sending him to the canvas with just under 30 seconds to go in the 11th round.

Benavidez didn't protest the knockdown, instead opting to focus on trying to get Morrell off his game. This resulted in some of the best boxing of the first quarter of the year. After his hard-fought victory, Benavidez had many positive things to say about his performance and his well-versed opponent. “This is the biggest win of my career so far," he said. "This is a dream come true for me." The fight named Benavidez as the mandatory challenger for the winner of Bivol-Beterbiev II on February 22nd, but Jose Benavidez Sr. pointed towards a potential clash between his son and Zurdo Ramirez at cruiserweight. Regardless of what David Benavidez's next move is, DQ w/ Damani will be following him all the way to the final bell.