It looks as if the final sentence in the messy incident involving Claressa Shields’ brother has been delivered.
Artis Mack, 28, was sentenced to one year in jail on an assault charge after punching Habazin trainer James Ali Bashir during a brawl at a weigh-in on Oct. 4, the day before Shields was scheduled to fight Ivana Habazin in Flint, Michigan.
The jail term was the maximum allowed. However, the Genesee District Court credited Mack with 158 days, the time he has already spent in jail, at a hearing Wednesday.
Mack was charged on Oct. 17 with felony assault. He was facing a maximum sentence of 10 years. However, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, a single count of misdemeanor assault, on Feb. 10.
In a message to MLive-The Flint Journal, Habazin expressed anger at the plea deal
“How is it possible that a convicted felon on parole who almost cost my trainer his life, could be given a slap on the wrist for his terrible crime?” she said. “As a citizen of Croatia, I thought there was justice in America. Now I realize the justice system in America is a joke. Shame on the people who are allowing this to happen!”
Bashir was left unconscious and rushed to a nearby emergency room for treatment.
The ugly brawl prompted the cancellation of the Shields-Habazin fight on Showtime. It was subsequently rescheduled for Jan. 10 in Atlantic City. Shields won a unanimous decision for two middleweight belts. With the victory, she also became a three-division champion in only her 10th pro bout.
On the day the sentence was handed down, Showtime announced Shields’ next bout. The two-time Olympic gold medalist (10-0, 2 KOs) is going back down in weight, to junior middleweight, against 154-pound champion Marie-Eve Dicaire (17-0), a Canadian from Quebec, on May 9 in Flint, Shields’ hometown