Claressa Shields Injured, Upcoming 154-Pound Title Fight Postponed For This Fall

Claressa Shields’ upcoming bid to win a world title in three weight classes will have to wait a little longer. 

Showtime announced that Shields, the current undisputed middleweight champion, suffered minor injury in training which has forced her to postpone her fight against Ivana Habazin for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title. The fight was originally scheduled for August 17 in Flint, Michigan, but now take place in the fall.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist became boxing’s second-ever female undisputed WBA, WBO, WBC and IBF champion when she defeated Christina Hammer this past April. Shields, who also won titles at 168 pounds, will now look to become a three-division world champion with a win over Habazin if and when the two meet in the ring. Dmitry Salita, Shields’ promoter, spoke on the injury and said he is looking for a new date and hopes to have one soon. 

“Claressa will bounce back quickly. Unfortunately, training injuries are part of the sport. A great champion like her will take it in stride and move forward to the new fight date we are currently working to finalize. The fight will be rescheduled for the fall and we will announce the new date shortly,” Salita said.

Habazin, a 29-year-old from Croatia, is looking to become a multi-weight world champion as well. Habazin once held the IBF welterweight title in 2014 but lost the belt in her first title defense later that year when she lost a 10-round decision to Cecilia Braekhus to crown the first-ever undisputed women’s champion. Since then, Habazin would go on to challenge for the WBC junior middleweight title and even held the IBO middleweight title last year.