Claressa Shields is a superb athlete boasting unparallelled achievements in female boxing. Like it or not, however, trouble seems to follow her around.
Shields, already a two-weight world champion and double Olympic gold medallist, was originally due to fight Ivana Habazin for a pair of vacant 154lb belts in October. That match was postponed at a day’s notice after Habazin’s trainer was attacked at the weigh-in by an assailant later identified as Claressa’s brother.
Yesterday, at the press conference for Friday’s rescheduled showdown, the trash talk became heated before Shields implied a racial dimension to Habazin’s jibes.
