Shadasia Green Defends IBF and WBO Super Middleweight Titles Against Lani Daniels at MSG Theater
On the night of April 17, 2026, Shadasia Green stepped back into the ring at Madison Square Garden Theater to prove she belongs at the top of women's super middleweight boxing. Defending her IBF and WBO titles against New Zealand's Lani Daniels in the co-main event of Most Valuable Promotions' second ESPN card, Green entered as a commanding -500 favorite — but the story surrounding the fight extended well beyond odds and scorecards. With a potential showdown against Claressa Shields simmering in the background and promoter politics already shaping what comes next, this defense was as much about the future as it was about the present.
The card, dubbed MVPW-02, aired live on ESPN beginning at 10 pm ET, with prelims streaming on ESPN+. It marked the second major boxing event under the Most Valuable Promotions banner — the promotion co-founded by Jake Paul — and positioned Green's fight alongside Alycia Baumgardner's WBA, IBF, and WBO super featherweight title defense against Bo Mi Re Shin. Women's boxing rarely commands this kind of prime-time real estate, which made the night significant beyond any single result. For a breakdown of the Baumgardner-Shin undercard action, see the live results and highlights at Yahoo Sports.
Shadasia Green: Who She Is and How She Got Here
At 36 years old, Shadasia Green carries a record of 16-1 with 11 knockouts — a ledger that speaks to knockout power unusual even at super middleweight. The one blemish on that record came early enough that it no longer defines her narrative. What defines her now is a sustained run of dominant performances, capped most recently by a split decision win over British contender Savannah Marshall — a victory that silenced doubters and cemented her standing as one of the division's elite fighters.
Green entered this fight riding a three-fight winning streak, and her profile has grown steadily under the MVP promotional umbrella. Her combination of hand speed and punching power makes her a genuine threat to anyone in the division, and at 36, she is fighting with the urgency of someone who understands that the window for legacy-defining fights is not infinite.
Tactically, Green is most dangerous when she can establish her jab, control distance, and let her right hand follow. DAZN's pre-fight tactical breakdown identified her ability to time her combinations off the back foot as a key differentiator — she's not just a brawler, she's a calculated puncher who can switch gears when the fight demands it.
Lani Daniels: The Challenger's Profile and What She Brought to the Table
Lani Daniels entered the fight as a +450 underdog with a record of 11-4-2, and the numbers told a complicated story. Her two most recent outings had both ended in unanimous decision losses, suggesting momentum was not on her side. But Daniels is not a fighter to dismiss lightly. She is a former IBF world light heavyweight champion — a belt she won by beating someone who beat someone, in the chain of legitimacy that defines professional boxing's title structure — and she carried the confidence of a fighter who has competed at the highest levels.
Her last win came in 2024, a unanimous decision over Bolatito Oluwole. That gap in competitive success, combined with back-to-back losses, made this assignment a difficult one. But Daniels' experience at world-title level, combined with her size and physical profile moving up in weight, gave her a credible path to an upset. The question was whether she could implement a game plan effectively against a champion fighting with both physical advantages and home-crowd energy.
For live round-by-round coverage of the fight as it unfolded, Sportskeeda provided real-time updates throughout the evening.
The Card's Significance: MVP, ESPN, and Women's Boxing's Moment
The MVPW-02 card represents something meaningful for women's boxing beyond the individual fights. Most Valuable Promotions has the rare combination of promotional muscle, media relationships, and social media reach to put women's title fights in front of audiences that don't habitually follow the sport. Two women's world title bouts as the anchor fights of a prime-time ESPN card is not the norm — it's a statement.
The Madison Square Garden Theater is not the main arena, but it's MSG. That address carries weight. The venue's history, the New York market, and the ESPN partnership combine to give these bouts a legitimacy that streaming-only deals often can't match. For women's boxing, which has fought for decades to be treated as a serious commercial product rather than an afterthought, this kind of platform matters.
The April 17 event was also notable for its broader sports context — a busy night across multiple sports that still saw meaningful real-time social engagement for the boxing card. Fans tracking the night's other events, from 2026 NBA Playoffs action to other league play-in games, were switching tabs to catch Green's defense, which is the kind of crossover attention that builds new boxing audiences.
The Shields Shadow: MVP's Biggest Prize Still Unclaimed
No conversation about Shadasia Green's career trajectory is complete without addressing the Claressa Shields question. Green has publicly stated her desire to fight Shields, the undisputed pound-for-pound queen of women's boxing. Shields' name is attached to Green's in every pre-fight buildup, every promotional interview, every discussion of what's next.
But promoter politics have made that fight complicated. Jake Paul's MVP promotion has been vocal about wanting to make a Green-Shields super fight happen, with Paul publicly expressing hope that a Green title defense win would accelerate those conversations. The fight would be a genuine marquee event — two elite fighters, multiple belts, and enough personal history to sustain promotional build for months.
The complication? Promoter Dmitriy Salita, who handles Green's promotional affairs, dropped an interesting public detail ahead of the Daniels fight: Green had agreed to attend a Claressa Shields fight to build momentum toward a potential matchup, then canceled the day of the appearance. It's a minor incident in isolation, but in the world of boxing promotion — where relationships, optics, and good faith gestures move fights forward — it's the kind of thing that can slow negotiations significantly.
Salita's public comments weren't all about Shields, either. He made clear he sees a fight with Danielle Perkins as the more logical immediate next step. Perkins holds an amateur win over Green from 2017 and, in February 2026, knocked out Che Kenneally to claim the WBA light heavyweight title. That amateur history gives the fight a genuine narrative hook beyond just belts and rankings. BoxingScene reported Salita's push for both Perkins vs. Green and Veyre vs. Baumgardner as the natural next fights coming out of the April 17 card.
What a Green Win Means for the Division — and What Comes Next
Assuming Green successfully defended her titles on April 17, the super middleweight landscape becomes considerably more interesting. A win doesn't just protect her record — it reinforces her claim as the division's standard-bearer and strengthens any argument for the Shields fight being a genuine unification bout rather than a spectacle mismatch.
The Perkins fight carries real appeal. Amateur history between professionals rarely maps cleanly onto professional results — the sport changes, athletes develop, and nearly a decade of professional experience separates those 2017 amateurs from who they are now. But narratives sell tickets and subscriptions, and "Perkins beat Green as amateurs, can she do it again?" is a story that writes itself. Perkins' KO win over Kenneally showed she can finish fights, which is exactly the kind of opponent Green needs to look sharp against if she wants to build toward the Shields super fight with maximum leverage.
Beyond Green specifically, the April 17 card positioned women's super middleweight and super featherweight boxing as legitimate main-event properties. That commercial validation has downstream effects — it encourages promotional investment, increases broadcast interest, and ultimately gives fighters in both divisions more options and better purses.
Analysis: Why This Fight Matters Beyond the Result
The Shadasia Green vs. Lani Daniels fight is a microcosm of where women's boxing finds itself in 2026: genuinely talented, commercially ascending, but still navigating the promotional politics that complicate the fights fans most want to see.
Green is exactly the kind of fighter the sport needs in a high-visibility slot. She's accomplished, she has real knockout power, and she has a clearly stated ambition to fight the best. The Claressa Shields matchup is the fight that would define both her legacy and the commercial ceiling for women's super middleweight boxing. The fact that it hasn't happened yet is partly logistics, partly promotional maneuvering, and partly the testing-and-proving phase that precedes any truly big fight.
What makes the April 17 card meaningful is that it keeps that conversation alive and adds weight to it. Every successful defense Green posts is an argument. Every pay-per-view that moves forward on a significant ESPN card is evidence that the market exists for the super fight. The Daniels defense was not the Shields fight — but it was a necessary chapter in the story that leads there.
For context on how women's boxing fits into the broader combat sports landscape that dominated April 17's sports coverage, it's worth noting the night also saw significant NBA playoff positioning being decided — yet the boxing card held its own in social media engagement and real-time viewership.
The Perkins fight, if Salita gets his way, would be both a compelling standalone event and a proving ground. If Green beats Perkins convincingly — someone with a prior win over her — it becomes harder for anyone to avoid her. And if Green beats Perkins and still can't get Shields across the table, that itself becomes a story about the sport's promotional fragmentation, which is its own kind of conversation worth having.
Frequently Asked Questions
What titles did Shadasia Green defend against Lani Daniels?
Green defended her IBF and WBO super middleweight world titles on April 17, 2026. She entered the fight as a -500 favorite with a 16-1 record and 11 knockouts.
Where did the fight take place and where could fans watch it?
The fight took place at Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City, as the co-main event of Most Valuable Promotions' MVPW-02 card. The main card aired on ESPN starting at 10 pm ET, with preliminary bouts streaming on ESPN+.
What is Shadasia Green's connection to Claressa Shields?
Green has publicly targeted Claressa Shields as a future opponent, and MVP's Jake Paul has expressed desire to make a Green-Shields super fight happen. However, negotiations have been complicated — promoter Dmitriy Salita noted that Green agreed to attend a Shields fight and canceled day-of, creating friction. Salita has advocated for a fight with Danielle Perkins as Green's next step, with the Shields fight as a longer-term target.
Who is Danielle Perkins and why does she matter to Green's future?
Danielle Perkins is the current WBA light heavyweight titleholder who knocked out Che Kenneally in February 2026. Crucially, she holds an amateur win over Green from 2017 — a piece of history that gives a potential matchup between the two an extra layer of narrative significance. Promoter Dmitriy Salita has publicly pushed for this fight as Green's next challenge.
What was Lani Daniels' record and background heading into the fight?
Daniels entered with a record of 11-4-2 and the distinction of being a former IBF world light heavyweight champion. She was on a two-fight losing streak heading in, with her last win coming in 2024 via unanimous decision over Bolatito Oluwole. She was listed as a significant +450 underdog for the Green fight.
What else happened on the April 17 MVP card?
In the main event, Alycia Baumgardner defended her WBA, IBF, and WBO super featherweight titles against South Korea's Bo Mi Re Shin. The card represented back-to-back women's world title fights headlining a prime-time ESPN event — an unusually prominent platform for women's boxing.
Conclusion
Shadasia Green's April 17 title defense was never just about Lani Daniels. It was a chapter in a longer story — one that involves Claressa Shields, Danielle Perkins, the growth of women's boxing as a commercial product, and one fighter's effort to build a legacy before the window closes. At 36, with power, credentials, and a clear vision for the fights she wants, Green is operating with purpose.
The Most Valuable Promotions platform gives her a visibility that fighters in previous generations of women's boxing could only dream about. Whether that translates into the Shields super fight — the bout that would cement her in boxing history — depends on factors both inside and outside the ring. What's clear is that she's doing her part: showing up, defending titles, and winning in front of national audiences.
The Perkins fight, if it happens next, will be the most meaningful test of Green's championship credentials to date. An amateur loss from 2017 is either ancient history or unfinished business, depending on what happens when the two meet as professionals. Either way, the super middleweight division has a compelling story unfolding — and Shadasia Green is at the center of it.
