Claressa Shields confident Ivana Habazin will be easy work!
As only could be expected, the final presser for Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (9-0, 2 KO’s) v Ivana Habazin (20-3, 7 KO’s) was full of tension and dripping with threats of violence. The two will meet on Friday January 10, at the Ocean Resort Casino located in Atlantic City, New Jersey to the decide the fate of the vacant WBC and WBO super welterweight titles.
If Habazin is successful she will become a two-time world champion and arguably will have committed one of the biggest upsets in women’s boxing history!
If undisputed middleweight champion Shields wins, she will become a three-division world champion and make history by accomplishing the feat faster than any other person in the history of the sport. Regardless of who wins, however, their disdain and animosity for one another will certainly rage on long after this bout has concluded.
THE HISTORY OF HATE
In many aspects it will be somewhat a major victory if the two fistic minded females even make it into the squared-circle. This is the third time that they have attempted to test their might with one another. The first fight was sidelined by a knee injury that Shields suffered in camp. The second bout was capsized when Habazin’s trainer was attacked and hospitalized at the official weigh-in.
This time around, it looks like everything will go as planned. Although, T-Rex insists that Habazin attempted everything she could to wiggle out of the fight. Paying all her outward displays of confident moxie no heed, Shields earnestly believes that she did not want the fight. She expresses this in an interview with SecondsOut.
“She did not want the fight. She tried everything to get out the fight. Oh my god, she wanted more money, she talking about she want security, she talking I cant have this person here, this girl did not want to fight.
“I’m telling yall the truth. That’s why she will never ever in life be a real world champion because world champions don’t carry themselves like that.”
PLOTTING ON A DOWNFALL
Going a step further than merely saying that she will win, T-Rex is putting it out there that she plans on stopping Habazin. Going a step beyond that, she is adamant that she will leave her Croatian adversary dusted and disgusted in six rounds or less! In her not so humble opinion, she simply can’t perceive what Habazin can do to keep her at bay.
According to her own personal diagnostic check, Shields believes that she is the faster, stronger and more intelligent fighter who enjoys a far stronger professional resume. Honestly, these facts are difficult to disprove.
To make matters worse, since working with her current trainer, John David Jackson, Shields believes that every aspect of her combat skills have gone up a notch. The prizefight on January 10 will mark the fifth time that Shields and Jackson have partnered up. Chief among the improvements that Jackson has made are her crispy, thudding punches.
And it’s precisely those crispy, thudding blows that she believes will either concuss Habazin or force her into a cowardly retreat. Either way, the Flint, Michigan native doesn’t see any way that Habazin is around to hear the final bell.
“I trained so hard for Ivana she going to be sick after the fight. Her and her whole team because she put in all that hard work for nothing. It’s nothing that she can do to beat me. And I guarantee it’s going to be over before six rounds and I say six because I’m punching different.
“I’m punching way different at 154. I’m stronger, I’m faster. She was slow in the beginning, I’m faster and even with that, this girl is a quitter!
“She’s a quitter. She’s going to quit. As soon as she gets hit, she going to go right back to her old ways, covering up, swinging all wild, ducking her head, she don’t got a chance in hell!”
By: Bakari Simpson
