A day before their long-awaited world championship showdown, a seemingly angry former champion Ivana Habazin is lashing out at Claressa Shields for what she calls “bullying.” 

“I have decided to start an anti-bullying platform in my country,” said Habazin. “Being that I'm facing the GBOAT (greatest bully of all time) on January 10, this would be an ideal way to kick off my platform.”

Habazin (20-3, 7 KOs) of Croatia, will face undisputed middleweight champion Shields (9-0, 2 KOs) of Flint, MI, in a 10-round main event for the vacant WBC and WBO 154-pound titles this Friday, January 10, live on SHOWTIME (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) from the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, N.J.

Habazin says she’s looking forward to giving Shields her due Friday night.

“I welcome this opportunity and look forward to giving the bully a massive dose of humility and showing her what real boxing skills look like,” continued Habazin. “You can expect to finally see someone actually box the bully. She still fights like she's in the amateurs, she just hasn't met anyone not intimidated by her BS yet. Someone who's going to fight back and school her. She talks about disrespect, but doesn't have a clue what that means. Every time she opens her mouth, she's disrespectful. She's a disgrace to women's boxing and sports in general."

To try and pull off what would be considered by many a major upset, Habazin was forced to work with a new trainer, as previous trainer James Bashir Ali suffered serious injuries from an assault at the weigh-in for their previously scheduled match-up last October, which led to the fight’s cancellation. Habazin ultimately chose Philadelphia-based former fighter Steve Upsher Chambers as her new chief second. 

And unlike the October fight, where she trained in the U.S., Habazin and Chambers held camp in Croatia, so she could be near her “second mother” Daniela while she battles an aggressive form of cancer.

Despite his relatively thin resume as a high-end trainer, Habazin says the decision to go with Chambers was an easy one. 

“We have a connection,” she said. “As soon as I met him, I said ‘ok, you’re coming with me.’ He was definitely the best choice. He’s had a lot of ring experience in big fights and I definitely learned a lot of new things. He changed my style, so it wasn’t easy at the beginning, but we made it. I am very happy to be working with him and we are going to shock everybody Friday because I am a totally different fighter in the best shape of my life.”

“She surprised me with how good she already was,” recounted Chambers. “Implementing and tweaking the things she already does wasn’t that difficult. We did a few different things, but the ultimate goal is the same and the game plan is pretty much the same. Of course, we miss Bashir. His personality brings something out of fighters, but we had a good camp and got the job done. She is very confident going in. We are planning on this fight being a complete shock from the very first round on.”

Chambers says that although he isn’t yet known as a top trainer, he’s been training behind-the-scenes for years with his brother, former heavyweight contender “Fast” Eddie Chambers. 

“This is pretty much my first time as the head trainer in a big fight, but people familiar with my brother and I know that we didn’t have a trainer after a certain point. All we had is what we talked about with each other. We had our manager work our corners, but my brother and I basically trained ourselves. So, I have already been on the big stage training my brother and myself. I was in the corner when my brother fought Wladimir Klitschko in front of 60,000 people, so this is nothing new to me. I’m not panicking.”

Making weight was no problem says Habazin, who stayed in shape after the previous fight’s cancellation.

“I haven't been more that 156 pounds during all of my training,” she said. “My ideal fighting weight is 147 so it's been pretty easy to stay within a few pounds of 154. And given the importance of this fight, Christmas holidays were pretty much like normal days.”

All of the previous pleasantries exchanged in the October pre-fight events have dried up after October’s ugly incident. Habazin says she has developed the single-minded focus to teach Shields a lesson about respect.

“She took this fight only because she thought it was easy pickings to get another undeserving title. This time she bit off more than her big mouth could chew. She talks about knocking me out. Please, you've had women stand right in front of you for 10 rounds and didn't do sh-t. I'm going to give the bully a boxing lesson and shut her mouth with a dose of humility. Let me extend an apology to Mark Taffet, Dmitriy Salita, Amanda Nunes, Dana White, Stephen Espinoza, Gordon Hall, and boxing fans who were fooled into believing  this bully had some real pedigree, when in fact she's all bark and no bite. Is that being disrespectful you ask? No, that called being honest and telling it like it is. She can dish it out, but folds like a chair when someone stands up to her. Typical bully!”

In the night’s other televised bouts, undefeated welterweight Jaron Ennis (24-0, 22 KOs) will take on hard-punching Bakhtiyar Eyubov (14-1-1, 12 KOs) in the 10-round co-main event and in the telecast opener, WBA Super Middleweight Champion Alicia Napoleon Espinosa (12-1, 7 KOs) meets IBF Champion Elin Cederroos (7-0, 4 KOs) in a 168-pound world title unification.