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Ivana Habazin was set to face Claressa Shields for a vacant 154-pound title in a Showtime main event on Aug. 17, but that fight has been postponed until the fall due to Shields suffering a reported minor injury in training camp.
Habazin, though, is saying she’s not buying the story. She tweeted that she doesn’t think Shields is hurt, she thinks Shields can’t make 154 pounds, to put it nicely.
Wishing your fatness to get well soon @claressashields #shieldshabazin pic.twitter.com/TKUXuyIFh0
— Ivana Habazin (@IvanaHabazin) June 21, 2019
“Claressa, we are really sorry to hear about your fat ass — oh, oh, oh, oh! Oh my God, I mean, about injury, yeah? You got injured (winking), yes? So in meantime, when we will eat, please try to lose your fat ass. We wish you a quick recovery.”
Habazin (20-3, 7 KO) is a former 147-pound titleholder, winning a belt in March 2014 before losing it six months later to Cecilia Braekhus. More recently, Habazin fought Mikaela Lauren for a 154-pound title in 2016, and was stopped in three by the then-40-year-old Swede.
Shields (9-0, 2 KO) has won titles at 168 and recently became undisputed at 160, so she is moving down in weight. The injury is reportedly to her knee, but it’s not expected to keep her out long.
Shields, of course, responded:
I’m not gonna pay this weird ass girl any mind. I have no reason to fake an injury. I dislocated my knee and can’t train for 6 weeks. Little do she know If it was up to me I’d still fight her with my knee messed up and beat her ass.
— ClaressaT-rexShields (@Claressashields) June 21, 2019
She went on to pay the weird ass girl many mind over several tweets, and then promised to slap Habazin at the weigh-in:
Oh and @IvanaHabazin I’m slapping the hell out of you at the weigh-in and then I’m kicking your ass the next day. #FINEMEPLEASE
— ClaressaT-rexShields (@Claressashields) June 21, 2019
And then we get to this terrific part, where Shields manager Mark Taffet and Habazin agree and both state this is all pure crap to sell a fight to hopefully gullible fans. I don’t know if they meant to do this over DMs or what.
@IvanaHabazin is this talk as a way to get out of fight OR talk since there is no “here’s how I will win” plan, OR “let’s try to rile her” which just results in @Claressashields destroying her in ring. Opponents doing this always go home speechless after feeling Shields mastery! https://t.co/ErxjOQcq6m
— Mark Taffet (@MarkTaffetMedia) June 21, 2019
Well, you know what they say, where there's smoke, there's fire. So why you so serious? Fight is on now. She has my full respect as a fighter and let's give the fans spectacular fight. Have a nice day!
— Ivana Habazin (@IvanaHabazin) June 21, 2019
This is all just fight talk...great for fans to hear and feel it...gives them skin in the game. Much respect to you and your team for all you have accomplished...glad we wilk have opportunity to do a great promotion and lift women’s boxing to even higher levels
— Mark Taffet (@MarkTaffetMedia) June 21, 2019
Feel the same. Let's do this.
— Ivana Habazin (@IvanaHabazin) June 21, 2019
Anyway, you know how sometimes I argue it’s fun to get caught up in the goofy nonsense of promoting a fight, to at least momentarily buy into the grudges and the trash talk for the sake of having some fun? Well, this isn’t one of those cases.
There is not one ounce of this worth caring about or believing in, even just the suspension of disbelief for a fun Saturday night watching fights. This is later period Vince Russo pro wrestling writing, where you pull the curtain back so far that everything loses even the fun you can have for a couple hours while knowing and fully understanding that it’s all an act. They’ve ruined even the silly illusion.
But whatever. The fight will happen this fall, we’ll cover it, Shields probably will dominate again, boxing writers will insist on comparing the TV numbers to ShoBox for some reason, and life will go on.