NEW YORK – Claressa Shields usually isn’t overly concerned about knocking out her opponents.
As long as Shields wins in convincing fashion, she’s satisfied most of the time. Ivana Habazin has annoyed Shields to the point, though, that she’ll push Friday night for what would be the two-time Olympic gold medalist’s first knockout in her past six fights.
“Knockouts don’t matter,” Shields stated in a press conference Tuesday in Manhattan. “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--k her up.”
Shields referred to Habazin belittling her as “the greatest bully of all time” earlier during their press conference. Habazin also drew Shields’ ire when the Croatian contender suggested that Shields wasn’t actually hurt the first time their fight was postponed due to Shields’ knee injury.
“Dumb-dumb, I was in a whole knee thing for two months,” Shields said to Habazin. “I couldn’t even walk. Is she mentally challenged? See, stuff like that is why I be like, ‘She a little off.’ You know what I mean? She weird. But I don’t fake no injury – not for her, anyway. No.”
The 24-year-old Shields (9-0, 2 KOs) and the 30-year-old Habazin (20-3, 7 KOs) were supposed to fight August 17 in Flint, Michigan, Shields’ hometown. Their fight was postponed until October 5 once Shields suffered a knee injury while doing roadwork.
Their 10-round, 154-pound championship match was postponed again when Habazin’s trainer, James Ali Bashir, was viciously assaulted at their weigh-in October 4. The site of their fight was moved from Flint to Atlantic City, New Jersey, because Habazin understandably refused to return to Flint following that ugly incident.
Steve Upsher Chambers became Habazin’s head trainer for this bout because Bashir hasn’t been healthy enough to prepare her due to injuries caused by the assault. Chambers was Bashir’s assistant before he was assaulted.
If the heavily favored Shields beats Habazin, she’ll become the fastest fighter, male or female, to win world titles in three divisions. The undisputed middleweight champion could accomplish that feat in just her 10th professional fight, two bouts earlier than Ukraine’s Vasiliy Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) and Japan’s Kosei Tanaka (15-0, 9 KOs) each became three-weight world champions.
Shields has no doubt she’ll make history in a main event Showtime will air from Ocean Resort Casino (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).
“I’m stronger, I’m faster,” Shields said. “I can fight at 175, and beat those girls, and come all the way down to 154. That’s why Cecilia [Braekhus] ran her ass down to 140 to fight against Katie Taylor. No, I’m way stronger than [Habazin]. She about to get pieced up.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.