Claressa Shields Speaks on Her Brother and Assault
On October 4, a day before their scheduled prizefight, Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (9-0, 2 KO’s) and Ivana Habazin (20-3, 7 KO’s) had the bout unexpectedly canceled. The cancellation was in response to someone sucker punching Habazin’s coach, James Bashir Ali. The attack would leaving him bloodied, unconscious and seriously injured. Naturally, Habazin was beside herself and in no way mentally fit to perform. Thankfully for the other competitors, the rest of the fight card went on as previously planned.
Immediately after the debacle transpired, countless individuals rushed forward to declare that the attacker was none other than Shields ‘brother. Following this line of thinking, some would even suggest the cause being the champion prompting her brother to attack Ali. Despite the frequency of the accusations, or viciousness, neither the authorities nor T-rex spoke on the matter.
“Now that my opponent’s coach is in the hospital, what do you think I was doing? Praying for her coach, praying for a speedy recovery. Praying that he’s alright, but everybody want to come at me, ‘you a disgrace!”” ~Claressa Shields, unified middleweight champion
This changed roughly two weeks after the attack. Shields’ brother, Artis J Mack, was formally charged with the assault. For a while, Shields opted to continue holding her tongue. Now, that time has come to an end as well. By way of social media, the unified middleweight champion went live to clear her mind, speak her peace and directly address her fans and haters.
Somewhat surprisingly, T-rex made it known that she was attempting to quickly reschedule the bout with Habazin. According to the Flint, Michigan ambassador she’s hopeful that they can re-pen a bout for as early as December or January. Although, this raises some obvious questions, such as will James Bashir Ali be back in action to make that date? And if not, who would step into his role as chief second? Will the prizefight land back in Flint?
Inquiring minds want to know.
“I’m actually waiting for them to give me a rescheduled fight date, supposed to be some time in December or January. Same girl [Habazin].” ~Claressa Shields, unified middleweight champion
In regards to her brother, Shields did not throw him under the bus nor try to protect him from criticism. In all actuality, the trailblazing boxer repeatedly doubled-down on the notion that they are “blood” but they are not in business with one another. Meaning, although he was in attendance the day of the incident, Artis Mack was not officially apart of her team. Therefore, according to Shields, she had no real control over any of his actions.
“So look, let me tell you something. See, this is where people get it fucked up at. When you seen me up at the weigh-in scale, when Coach Bashir was calling my sister bitches and all that, and all that stuff, did you see my brother up there? No! Because my brother is not on the pay roll, hello! He’s my brother, he’s not a part of my boxing business. That’s where y’all getting it all twisted and fucked up at, right?” ~Claressa Shields, unified middleweight champion
As for now, it appears that this is all the new information that we are going to get. It will be interesting to see how the legal drama unfolds and if the initial bout can indeed be rescheduled. If so, that one would be the breathing definition of a ‘bad blood fight!’
3kingsboxing will continue to provide coverage on this slowly developing feature.
“So right, you feel me? He not on the payroll, he ain’t no promoter, he wasn’t my security guard, he wasn’t my manager, he wasn’t my assistant, he wasn’t my mentor. Ya feel me, he’s my brother […] so that’s why when people keep talking about your brother this and your brother that, he not on my team, ya feel me? That’s my blood, same DNA, that’s what it is. But if your mother go and kill somebody, does that mean that you killed that person? No! Your mother did! Now if your mama was your manager or your lawyer, or whatever and she got a job description that got something to do with your job then you got a problem.” ~Claressa Shields, unified middleweight champion
By: Bakari Simpson
