Could the NBA return to Atlantic City if the season resumes this year? If the mayor of Atlantic City has his way, it would. During a Facebook Live update about the coronavirus’ impact on the city, Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. confirmed a New York Post report that the city is trying to lure the basketball league once the pandemic is over.
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“It is my goal to recruit and bring …
“It is my goal to recruit and bring people here,” Small Sr. said during the Facebook Live. “We are trying to work that out and bring the NBA here once things settle down a little bit.” The mayor said he could not divulge any other information and was not at liberty to say how far the talks have gone, but did mention if selected, the games would be played at Boardwalk Hall.
Claressa Shields’ brother pleads guilty to aggravated assault
Artis Mack, Claressa Shields’ brother, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for his role in a brawl at an Oct. 4 weigh-in in Flint, Mich.
An ugly incident in 2019 moved closer to a legal resolution Monday.
Artis Mack, Claressa Shields’ brother, pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated assault for his role in a brawl at an Oct. 4 weigh-in before a scheduled fight between Shields and Ivana Habazin in Flint, Mich.
Mack was originally charged with one count of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder. He reached a plea deal Monday at Genesee District Court, reducing the charge to a misdemeanor.
Mack, 28, is accused of punching Habazin trainer James Ali Bashir at the Dort Federal Event Center in Flint, Shields’ hometown. Bashir suffered serious head injuries from what witnesses said was “a sucker-punch’’ thrown by Mack.
Mack, who faces up to one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine, is scheduled to be sentenced on March 10.
“It was bad for the city, bad for his sister and certainly bad for everybody involved,’’ Mack attorney Frank Manley said. “Hopefully, this will put an end to it.’’
Because of injuries to Bashir, Habazin (20-4, 7 KOs), of Croatia, refused to fight on the Showtime-televised card on Oct. 5. The bout was rescheduled for Jan. 10 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Shields (10-0, 2 KOs) won a one-sided decision, becoming a three-division champion in only her 10th pro bout.
Claressa Shields makes history with near shutout of Ivana Habazin
Claressa Shields defeated Ivana Habazin by a near-shutout 10-round decision to win major titles in a third weight division Friday night.
Claressa Shields has accomplished a great deal in 10 professional fights.
The two-time Olympic champion defeated Ivana Habazin by a near-shutout 10-round decision to win major titles in a third weight division – junior middleweight – Friday night at Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Shields became the fastest to become a three-division champion. Vasiliy Lomachenko did it in 12 fights.
She had previously won titles at super middleweight and then middleweight before moving down to junior middleweight. She still holds the 160-pound title.
“This feels great. I did it in 10 fights,” Shields said. “Now I’m No. 1, the fastest boxer in history to become a three-division world champion.”
The matchup had generated a lot of attention for the wrong reasons.
Shields (10-0, 2 KOs) was scheduled to make her 154-pound debut against her Croatian rival in August but the fight was postponed after Shields was injured. Then the bout, rescheduled for Oct. 5, was canceled after Habazin’s 68-year-old trainer James Ali Bashir was attacked at the weigh-in the day before the fight. Shields’ brother Artis J. Mack was later arrested on assault charges.
Once the fighters stepped into the ring, however, it wasn’t much of a contest. Shields outboxed, outworked and generally had her way with Habazin (20-4, 7 KOs) from the opening bell.
In the sixth round, a left hook to the body put Habazin down. She was able to get up and continue but, as in the rest of the fight, she landed punches too infrequently to make the fight competitive. She landed only 49 total shots, less than five per round, according to CompuBox.
The judges scored it 100-90, 99-89 and 100-89.
“I just want to become a better fighter,” Shields said. “That’s all. I want to grow women’s boxing. I want to share a card with Deontay Wilder and Errol Spence. Andre Ward said, ‘Sis, take her to the body.’ I was throwing all body shots in the first minute and then boom, she went down.”
Shields has said she plans to give Mixed Martial Arts a try. She might as well. It seems no one in boxing can give her a fight.
In a preliminary bout, rising young welterweight star Jaron Ennis (25-0, 22 KOs) stopped an overmatched Bakhtiyar Eyubov (14-2-1, 12 KOs) 34 seconds into the fourth round of a scheduled 10-round fight.
Ennis battered Eyubov in the opening round, putting the Houston-based Kazakhstani down twice, and never let up. The Philadelphian was pounding his helpless prey when the referee finally decided that he had taken enough punishment and stopped the fight.
Some thought this would be Ennis’ biggest test. If that was a test, the other 147-pounders should be on notice.
Joe Smith says fight with Jesse Hart personal for him too
Joe Smith and Jesse Hart are set to meet in an important light heavyweight bout for both fighters Saturday in Atlantic City.
Joe Smith, laborer by day and prize fighter when possible, sells himself as the common man. But there’s nothing common about how Jesse Hart sees him. Smith has become a cause, a rallying cry for Hart to avenge a loss suffered by a man who has always been his mentor.
Hart remembers the night when Smith knocked Bernard Hopkins out of the ring more than three years ago in Los Angeles. Smith made Hopkins look like an old man, which of course he was. Hopkins was 51. Yet the memory still haunts Hart, who intends to exorcise it in a light heavyweight fight Saturday night in Atlantic City on ESPN.
Hart says the fight isn’t about money, or a possible shot at a major belt, or any of the other usual motivations. It’s strictly personal, he says. It’s about family, he says. It also about north Philadelphia, Hopkin’s home.
Smith (24-3, 20 KOs) hears Hart (26-2, 21 KOs) and tries to understand. But he is also quick to remind Hart that every fight is personal. Your nose gets broken. Your blood is spilled. That’s about as personal as it gets.
“It’s always personal with me as well,’’ Smith said this week in a conference call. “Personal for me, and I’m also fighting for my family and other things.’’
Smith goes into the fight without any evident trepidation about facing a hyper-motivated Hart. An overly-emotional Hart might walk right into the same power that knocked Hopkins through the ropes and onto the floor in an eighth-round stoppage Dec. 17, 2016 at the Forum.
For Smith, the motivation is business-like. Hart represents an opportunity for him to get beyond a unanimous decision loss to Dmitry Bivol on March 9. He also lost to Sullivan Barrera on July 15, 2017 in his first fight after the Hopkins’ stunner.
“Yeah, I have to get past Jesse Hart on Saturday night,’’ Smith said. “You know, I’m hoping to stay busy this year. I want to fight a few times. I want to make 2020 my year. I’m really looking forward to it.’’
Hart, a former super middleweight fighting at light heavy for only the second time, has other ideas. He hopes that he can make Smith regret it.
“I want to take Joe to that Ali-Frazier III type of knock-down, drag-out fight,’’ Hart said during the conference call. “Where Ali said it was the closest he was to death. I want to see if he quits then. That’s how far I want to push Joe. I want to stay in there, and I want to see where it’s at. I wanna see if he’s going to quit then with me.
“I know what I’m looking to do. I know I’m not looking to quit that night under no circumstances.’’
Claressa Shields plans to turn a page against Ivana Habazin
Claressa Shields said people will forget about Ivana Habazin after she knocks out the Croatian on Friday in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Claressa Shields is fighting to move on. Fighting to forget, too.
Shields gets that chance Friday against Ivana Habazin in a junior middleweight bout that was rescheduled after a brawl as ugly as any in 2019 at a weigh-in on Oct. 4, the day before they were supposed to fight in Flint, Michigan, Shields’ hometown.
Four months later, they have moved on to a new day and a new zip code, Atlantic City, New Jersey. They fight on Showtime.
“Everyone who was in Flint and knows about the incident that happened knows it’s not something I have a history of doing,’’ Shields (9-0, 2 KOs) said Tuesday at news conference in New York. “I don’t do stuff outside the ring.’’
But the memory of that brawl lingers. Hard feelings remain. Habazin’s manager and trainer, 68-year-old James Ali Bashir, was seriously injured by a reported sucker punch. He underwent surgery for facial fractures. Shields’ brother, Artis Mack, was charged with assault.
“I’ve been thinking about this since October and I have more of an incentive now given what happened,” Habazin (20-3, 7 KOs) said. “I feel like I’m fighting for James Ali Bashir, as well as for my own pride and respect. I’m also fighting for my country. I want to make Croatia proud that I am their daughter, and I feel that I now have their full support.’’
There’s also incentive for Shields, a two-time Olympic gold medalist who has never been shy about what she thinks of herself or her opposition. She called herself the GWOAT – the greatest woman of all time – on Tuesday. She also expressed her contempt for Habazin.
“One of the things she said that was really disrespectful was that I didn’t make weight for October 4,’’ Shields said. “Don’t believe the lies. I made 154 pounds and I’m going to be a three-division world champion come Friday. Ivana doesn’t stand a chance.
“I’m sorry, I’m just going to keep it real. She’s not as skilled as Christina Hammer. She worked her way up, but once a quitter, always a quitter.
“Once the fight is over, she’s going to be a blast from the past. They won’t be talking about the incident in Flint. They may remember it, but her? They won’t even remember her name after I beat her down on Friday.”
Jesse Hart hopes to avenge Bernard Hopkins’ loss against Joe Smith Jr.
Jesse Hart will look to exact revenge for mentor Bernard Hopkins, when he takes on Joe Smith Jr. on January 11 in Atlantic City.
It was the end of December 2016, and Jesse Hart was hearing it from everyone in Philadelphia. At the gym, at the supermarket, even at the tire shop.
“People were coming up to me and telling me, ‘You gotta avenge that loss,’” Hart told Boxing Junkie.
Hart, of course, was an undefeated super middleweight contender at the time; he had no personal loss to avenge, technically speaking.
But it sure felt personal to him — and scores of Philadelphians — when, on Dec. 16, 2016, native son Bernard Hopkins, then 51, was literally knocked out of the ring by a union construction worker from Long Island, Joe Smith Jr.
For Hopkins, it was an ignominious ending to an otherwise illustrious career. That it happened all the way out in Inglewood, California seemed to underscore the cruelty of the event. At the time, Hart was in the gym training so he didn’t get to watch the fight unfold live, but he recalls getting a phone call.
“It hurt the little boy in me because Bernard meant a lot to me,” Hard said. “Not only was I so hurt, my city was hurt as well. We all felt like Hopkins should have gone out better than that.
“And that’s the reason this fight is occurring. It’s not secret that I’m the best light heavyweight out of all these jokers.”
Hart (26-2, 21 KOs) gets his chance to exact revenge for his mentor and idol when he faces Smith (24-3, 20 KOs) in a light heavyweight tilt Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey on ESPN. It’s business as usual, yes, but also a bit personal. Well, a lot personal.
“As a little boy we all got our inspirations,” Hart said. “I don’t know who that was for you, but I’m saying, as a little boy, you’re inspired by wrestlers, Hulk Hogan, you know what I’m saying. Kids say I want to be like Deion Sanders. The kids say they want to be like Andre the Giant. They say they want to be like Bruce Lee.
“The little boy, what’s the inspiration that inspired you to become whatever you became and to be the best at it? That’s what people don’t understand. Bernard Hopkins inspired me to be what I am today and to be the best at it.”
Last month, Hopkins was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, along with Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley. To Hart, though, Hopkins long surpassed Hall of Fame status.
“He’s an icon,” Hart said. “Not just for this sport of boxing but for life, period. Showing people that you can be knocked down and can get back up and coming from where he came from, the penitentiary and doing those negative things and changing his life around. Being a Hall of Famer is cool, but being an icon surpasses all of that.”
Hart is chasing similarly lofty goals himself. After two close losses at super middleweight against then 168-pound titleholder Gilberto Ramirez, Hart moved up to light heavyweight this year, winning a decision against veteran Sullivan Barrera in June. A win over Smith would get him one step closer to another title shot.
He promises not to suffer the same fate as Hopkins.
“I will not go out the ring,” he said. “I will fight at the highest level that I can perform at ever.”
Claressa Shields-Ivana Habazin fight rescheduled for Jan. 10
Claressa Shields and Ivana Habazin will fight on Jan. 10, nearly three months after Habazin’s trainer was injured in a weigh-in altercation.
Claressa Shields and Ivana Habazin will fight on Jan. 10 in Atlantic City, nearly three months after their scheduled matchup was canceled following a violent altercation at the weigh-in.
The bout had been scheduled for Oct. 5 in Flint, Michigan, Shields’ hometown, but it was pulled off a Showtime-televised card after Habazin trainer James Ali Bashir was injured by punches on the day before opening bell.
Bashir was hospitalized with reported facial fractures. A few days after the incident, he returned to the hospital with a brain bleed, according to a Facebook post from Habazin.
Artis Mack, Shields’ brother, was arraigned on an assault charge in Michigan’s Genesee District Court on October 17 for allegedly throwing the punches. Mack, 28, pleaded not guilty.
Shields (9-0, 2 knockouts), a two-time Olympic gold medalist, hoped that the junior middleweight fight would be rescheduled. She and Habazin (20-3, 7 KOs), of Croatia, were initially scheduled to meet on August 17. That date was shelved when Shields suffered a knee injury.
“My goal is to become three-division champ faster than any man or woman in history,” said Shields, who already has won middleweight and super-middleweight belts. “This is a very significant fight for both of us. We have both trained really hard twice and great opportunities await the winner, so hopefully three times is the charm.”
Habazin says she is motivated for the fight because of what happened in Flint.
“I’ve been thinking about this since October, and I have more of an incentive now, given what happened,” Habazin said. “I feel like I’m fighting for James Ali Bashir, as well as for my own pride and respect.’’