Claressa Shields targets Vasiliy Lomachenko and Kosei Tanaka’s record!
On October 5, the undisputed middleweight champion Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (9-0, 2 KO’s) will drop down to super welterweight to face Ivana Habazin (20-3, 7 KO’s). When she does so, Shields will be fighting for the vacant WBC diamond and WBO super welterweight titles.
As is to be expected T-rex will be an overwhelming favorite going into the bout. The fight will be contested in her hometown of Flint, Michigan and aired live from the Dort Federal Event Center on SHOWTIME.
When last in the ring, Shields fairly easily out boxed the previously undefeated Christina “Lady” Hammer (24-1, 11 KO’s). Although, all three judges saw T-Rex winning by a wide margin. she still feels as though she made a significant amount of errors.
Such is the life of a harsh self-critic. Having felt that she made so many needless errors, ahead of her prizefight with Habazin the main goal is making notable improvements. Where so many want her to focus on scoring a memorable knockout, Shields simply wants to execute everything that was done in camp as expressed in a recent interview with FightHype.
“Every camp we just want to be a better version of myself. So of course me and Coach John studied the Hammer fight and we just want to fix all our mistakes. I know people on here like, ‘how many mistakes did you make during the Hammer fight?’ A lot!
“Even though we were unanimous [in decision], it was still stuff that me and my coach seen that we want to fix going into the fight with Ivana.”
So long as she is successful in displaying all the tools she’s been honing in camp, T-Rex is certain that she’ll enjoy a dynamic hometown fight. In terms of fighting at home, she doesn’t believe that it could have come at a better time.
The Flint, Michigan native is definitely at a stellar point in her career. Due to her brightly shining star, Shields is happy that her fight can both encourage the youth and shine a light upon the many requirements of her native stomping grounds.
“I feel like the fight came at the right time. I wanted to be super accomplished when I went back home to Flint and that’s just because I wanted the kids to see that, you know? I’m Flint, Michigan and I have accomplished all this and I’m not waiting until the end of my career to come back.
“I’m coming back to Flint at the peak of my career, you know? I’m coming back while I’m a world champion, while I’m undisputed champion, while I’m breaking records. I’m bringing a fight back to Flint.
“I feel like me becoming a three division world champion, the fastest boxer to do so in ten fights, beating Lomachenko’s record, I felt like that was the perfect fight to bring back to Flint. While we have, you know, all this water crisis going on. I just felt like now was the right time to inspire the city and inspire the kids.”
3kingsboxing will continue to provide all the latest updates in regards to this meaningful title fight.
By: Bakari Simpson
The opposition she is facing pales in comparison.