NEW YORK – Claressa Shields’ skeptics have criticized her for not scoring more knockouts.

The undefeated Shields is 9-0 and has won world titles in two weight classes, but she has beaten only two opponents by knockout. Each of her past five fights have gone the 10-round distance.

Shields disputes criticism of her power because she has fought a high level of opposition since she made her pro debut in November 2016. The two-time Olympic gold medalist promised she’ll knock out Ivana Habazin on Friday night and explained during a press conference Tuesday in Manhattan why her knockout ratio isn’t higher.

“When you talking about getting knockouts,” Shields said, “and then being faced against the opponents that I’m faced with, if you would’ve gave me tomato cans to fight up on Showtime, I would have nine knockouts on Showtime. If you look at who I fought, Hanna Gabriels. Who she been knocked out by? OK. Then you talk about Tori Nelson – 17-0 when I fought against her. Who knocked her out? Nobody. I beat her. We talk about Christina Hammer, 24-0, 11 knockouts. Who beat her? She was undefeated. So, when people put the pressure, ‘Oh, you supposed to be knocking girls out,’ no I’m not. I’m supposed to go in there and beat ‘em.

“And technically, I woulda got the knockout on Christina Hammer, but she kept holding me. It’s not my job to be the ref. That’s the ref job. And that ref [Sparkle Lee] also apologized to me about not doing her job correctly. So, when you talk about getting knockouts, you’ve gotta put the facts in there and who I’ve been fighting. I was 3-0 fighting against a girl 15-6. What kind of athlete do you see doing that? So, when you talk about knockouts, no, I had to learn how to be a professional fighter.”

Shields soundly defeated a more experienced Hammer in their middleweight title unification fight April 13 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Flint, Michigan, native beat Hammer by big margins on all three scorecards – 98-91, 98-91 and 98-92 – to retain her IBF, WBA and WBC 160-pound championships and won the WBO belt from Germany’s Hammer (24-1, 11 KOs, 1 NC).

The 24-year-old Shields has returned to Atlantic City to battle Habazin (20-3, 7 KOs) in a 10-round fight for the vacant WBC and WBO 154-pound titles. Shields moved down six pounds to attempt to win world titles in a third division and feels she’ll be a stronger puncher at a lower weight.

“Me and my coach have been working on me making sure that I place my punches, land ‘em and not just throw ‘em with speed,” Shields said, referring to trainer John David Jackson. “Because when I first turned pro, they was saying that I was throwing over 150 punches in two minutes. They was saying that if I was to be a male fighter and I was to box three minutes, I would be throwing over 125 punches [per round]. So, with that, we slowed the punch count down. We’re gonna aim our shots, we’re gonna take our time and now I’m just more comfortable without fighting in the headgear. In the Olympics, the women have to fight with headgear in the amateurs, when the boys don’t. So, I was never used to, first off, getting head-butted, getting elbowed, all that, without the headgear.

“So, now that I’ve learned that it will be a knockout. That’s why I got close to knocking out Hammer. And I’ve stung every girl that I’ve fought, every girl. … But if I was to box three minutes, you can add four or five more knockouts that I would have. We’ve only got two minutes to do work. So, with the two minutes, I go in there and do what I can. But all my fights have been dominant. I haven’t even had a split or a majority decision. So, knockouts don’t matter. What matter is a ‘W.’ But this fight, I’m gonna Deontay Wilder her for sure. Call me a bully now, because I’m about to f*ck her up.”

Croatia’s Habazin, 30, has been stopped only once. Sweden’s Mikaela Lauren (32-6, 13 KOs) beat Habazin by third-round technical knockout in their April 2016 fight for the WBC 154-pound championship.

The Shields-Habazin bout will headline Showtime’s tripleheader Friday night from Ocean Resort Casino (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).

Welterweight Jaron Ennis (24-0, 22 KOs), a top prospect from Philadelphia, and Kazakhstan’s Bakhtiyar Eyubov (14-1-1, 12 KOs, 1 NC) will meet in the 10-rounder Showtime will air just before Shields and Habazin box. Alicia Napoleon-Espinosa (12-1, 7 KOs), of Lindenhurst, New York, and Sweden’s Elin Cederroos (7-0, 4 KOs) will fight for Napoleon-Espinosa’s WBA super middleweight title and the vacant IBF 168-pound crown in the 10-round opener of Showtime’s telecast.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.