Croatian boxer Ivana Habazin was supposed to fight American Claressa Shields for the title in Flint, Michigan, but a horrible event at the weigh-in made her cancel the fight.
It was supposed to be a celebration of boxing, and a return of the two-time Olympic champion, Claressa Shields to her hometown as a pro boxer.
The Croatian and the American boxer were scheduled to fight for the vacant World Boxing Organization Junior Middleweight title, and everything was going as planned, until the weigh-in ceremony. At the ceremony, Habazin's trainer James Ali Bashir got in an altercation with Shields' sister, and ten minutes after that a man came to Bashir from behind, punched him in the back of the head and ran.
The punch knocked Bashir to the ground, unconscious, and he was taken to a hospital. Ivana Habazin posted on social media that he's since been transferred to another hospital, where he's had surgery (not specified which kind of surgery), and that he's starting to recover, but that she refuses to box after such a shock (video below in English).
Claressa Shields took to Instagram before it was clear that the fight would, in fact, be cancelled, saying that people call her opponent "Ivana No Excuses" and that she should go on with the fight, and that there's certainly someone else who can take Bashir's place in Ivana's corner. The disrespectful comment seems to have been taken down from her social media, but nothing disappears once it's posted:
? Claressa Shields gives her side of the story after opponent Ivana Habazin's coach was sucker-punched at their weigh-in today. Shields still wants the fight to go ahead: "Her name is Ivana 'No Excuses', so I'm hoping we don't have none."
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) October 4, 2019
[?️ @ClaressaShields] pic.twitter.com/UdHA1LGpgb
Some of the media report that the attacker was Shields' brother. The TMZ.com website said Michigan police have a suspect in custody but they did not provide any details. Claressa Shields denied those claims, saying it was not her brother who attacked the trainer from behind.
James Ali Bashir is a well-known figure in the boxing world, having trained under trainer Emanuel Steward for close to two decades. The New Jersey native has worked with boxers like former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, Monte Barrett, Shannon Briggs and Jameel McCline, and has been Habazin's trainer as she prepared for the title bout against an undefeated boxing super-star.
