Some unfortunate news in boxing as Ivana Habazin's trainer was sucker-punched at the weigh-ins for a junior middleweight world title fight.
Before Claressa Shields and Habazin were able to step onto the scales, James Ali Bashir, Habazin's trainer, was attacked by someone whose identity has yet to be officially confirmed. Ali was carried out into a stretcher and put in an ambulance while the suspect was arrested according to a report from USA Today. Showtime would later announce that the fight has been canceled and so the fight will move on with two previously-scheduled fights, headlined by Jaron Ennis vs. Demien Daniel Fernandez.
The incident caused a halt to the event's activities and both fighters, scheduled to fight for the vacant WBO and WBC junior middleweight titles in the main event of a Showtime-televised card from Flint, Michigan, did do their weigh-ins. Shields' manager Mark Taffet spoke to the media, saying the focus now is on Ali's recovery.
Here is Mark Taffet (@MarkTaffetMedia), Claressa Shields' manager, on the #ShieldsHabazin weigh-in. Undercard fighters had weigh-in, Shields and Habazin did not. We are waiting for an update. #Boxing #Flint pic.twitter.com/55uDYSvOnZ
— Jonathan Deutsch (@JonathanD_TV) October 4, 2019
As for the rest of the weigh-ins, the undercard fighters did complete their weigh-ins with Ennis vs. Fernandez and Jermaine Franklin vs. Pavel Sour rounding out the remainder of the Showtime-scheduled card.
