FLINT — Claressa Shields needs to lose 20 pounds in the next 52 days so she can weigh in at 154 pounds and attempt to once again make boxing history.
Can she do it?
No problem, says Shields, the undisputed middleweight champion of the world from Flint who will meet Croatia’s Ivana Habazin Oct. 5 at the Dort Federal Event Center for the vacant WBO junior middleweight belt.
Before a news conference Wednesday, Shields said she currently weights 174 pounds. She anticipates not problems reaching 154 — which would be the lightest Shields (9-0-0, 2 KOs) has weighed as a pro — and doesn’t think her strength will be tapped.
“My nutrition team is great,” said Shields, 24. “I dealt with them the last two or three fights and they definitely helped me lose the weigh just fine. If you ask my nutrition team, I can make 147 healthy … and be just a strong as I was at 168.
“I’m not a fan of 47 but 54 shouldn’t be a problem.”
Shields previously cut weight to reach 168 pounds for her super middleweight championship bout vs. Hanna Gabriels and got down to 160 for her middleweight unification bout vs. Christina Hammer.
She does it by practicing portion control with her meals, which are usually comprised of things like brown rice and nutrient-rich vegetables. She eats four times a day — 8 a.m., 1 p.m., 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. — and her meals are either grilled or baked.
She also drinks lots of water.
Hammer made Shields’ weight an issue before their fight in April and Habazin did the same thing when Shields suffered a knee injury that postponed their fight from its original date of Aug. 27.
Habazin posted a video on Twitter that showed her eating and said “Claressa, we are really sorry about your fat ass … Oh my God, I mean, about your injury.” Habazin laughed after saying it and said during Wednesday’s press conference that she was only joking.
Shields fired back on Twitter at the time but said Wednesday she wasn’t angry. She just doesn’t like hearing fighters talk about an opponents’ physical characteristics since Shields is on a mission to raise the perception of the women’s fight game.
“They all come with the same thing,” said Shields, who is 5-foot-9. “Hammer called me fat and Hammer said I wasn’t going to make the weight class of 160. She made it more about personal appearance than about the fight, which blew me away. She’s not even a pretty girl but she was like, ‘Oh, I’m skinnier than you and I’m prettier.’ Just weird stuff like that.
“That’s not a conversation I like to have when it comes to boxing. I’d rather a girl say ‘I’m going to kick your ass’ or ‘I’m going to knock you out’ than to talk about ‘I’m skinnier and I’m prettier and I have a better body than you.’ That’s not what boxing is about.
“I’m trying to get that out of the equation and concentrate strictly on the fight game so we can get paid more money and be recognized as real fighters and have that respect of real fighters, not (as) women who look good and get in the ring to fight.”
Habazin doesn’t think she’ll be at a disadvantage fighting Shields in her hometown although Hammer made it clear she would not agree to a fight with Shields in Michigan for that very reason.
Habazin, 29, won the IBF welterweight championship in 2014 by beating Belgium’s Sabrina Giuliani in her hometown.
Shields thinks fighting at the Dort Federal Event Center will help her in one way.
“It will be a mental advantage because she will feel not only are my team and myself against her but everybody in the building is against her,” Shields predicted. “I fought in those kid of surroundings before and I embraced it. Maybe she’ll be the kind of fighter that embraces it. I don’t know.
“It may be a mental advantage but other than that there will be no advantage. We’ll get fair judging, hopefully we’ll get a fair ref. My last fight against Hammer, we had a ref who allowed Hammer to hold me throughout the whole fight.
“I’m just hoping we have a ref who is knowledgeable of the rules and knows that holding is illegal for both of us. Hitting in the back of the head is illegal. Spitting out mouthpieces when you get tired or hit is illegal. Stuff like that so we can have a really competitive and great fight.”
Shields will be attempting to become the fastest fighter, male or female, to win world championships in three weight divisions. The current record is 12 fights.
The fight was originally scheduled for Aug. 17 but was postponed when Shields suffered a dislocated knee while training. She said the knee is about 95 percent healed and that she’s been training for three weeks.
Article courtesy of M Live
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Trapp / Showtime Boxing
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