Baumgardner shines after New Zealand’s Daniels seizes unified crown in jarring upset
Alycia Baumgardner lands a left hand on Bo Mi Re Shin during their unified junior lightweight title fight early Saturday morning in New York. Photograph: Ed Mulholland/Getty Images On a night when Alycia Baumgardner showed why she’s considered one of boxing’s hottest properties, it was a longshot from New Zealand in the co-main event who threatened to steal the show. Baumgardner retained her WBO, IBF and WBA junior lightweight titles early Saturday morning at the Theater at Madison Square Garden with a commanding 10-round unanimous decision over South Korea’s Bo Mi Re Shin in the headline bout of the first US card staged by Most Valuable Promotions Women, the nascent women’s boxing platform launched by boxer-influencer Jake Paul.
The 31-year-old Ohio native, fighting out of Dallas under crack trainer Derrick James, dominated Shin for five rounds before turning back a furious rally to win a wide verdict by scores of 98-92, 98-92 and 99-91. (The Guardian had it 98-92 . ) Related: Alycia Baumgardner beats Bo Mi Re Shin to retain unified junior lightweight title – as it happened But Baumgardner’s sixth title defense in the 130lb division, where she’s held at least one belt since 2021, was nearly upstaged by the fight before it.
That’s when Lani Daniels upset the 4-1 odds against her with a shocking ninth-round technical knockout of unified super-middleweight champion Shadasia Green – a moment that quickly gave way to harrowing scenes when Green was hurried out of the ring on a stretcher apparently unconscious and taken to hospital. “I hope she’s alright,” Daniels said in her post-fight interview. “I’m happy but also concerned for her.
I’m happy for this and I’m happy to become a world champion once again. ” Mike Leanardi, Most Valuable Promotions’ head of boxing, said Green was ”awake and talking” at the hospital during a news conference after the main event, which followed a previous report that she was “conscious, speaking and moving”. Daniels, nicknamed the Smiling Assassin, previously held the IBF’s version of the light-heavyweight and heavyweight championships, but entered Friday’s fight coming off back-to-back losses to Claressa Shields and Sarah Scheurich.
Now the 37-year-old from Whangārei along New Zealand’s northern coast has added a world title in a third different weight class. Shortly after Green was stretchered from the ring by a team of EMTs, Baumgardner made her way to the ring at half past midnight accompanied by New York rapper Lil’ Kim, a flashy entrance that elicited wild cheers from the several thousands spectators in attendance. In a contest held under men’s championship rules with 10 rounds of three minutes each, Baumgardner controlled the action from the opening bell, taking the center of the ring and immediately establishing her technical superiority.
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