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Claressa Shields' bid for third world title rescheduled for Oct. 5 on Showtime

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - APRIL 13: Claressa Shields reacts after defeating Christina Hammer (not pictured) and becoming the women's undisputed middleweight champion at Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall on April 13, 2019 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Claressa Shields, celebrating an April 13 victory over Christina Hammer, returns to thje ring on Oct. 5 in Flint, Michigan, when she faces Ivana Habazin for the WBO super welterweight title in a bout broadcast by Showtime. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

Claressa Shields will resume her bid for a third world championship when she faces former world champion Ivana Habazin for the vacant WBO super welterweight title on Oct. 5 in her hometown of Flint, Michigan, in a bout that will be broadcast on Showtime.

Shields and Habazin were supposed to fight on Aug. 17, but a knee injury to Shields forced postponement of the fight.

Now healthy, Shields is looking to add a 154-pound belt to the 160- and 168-pound championships she already owns. Now 9-0 with two knockouts as a pro, Shields is the only American, male or female, to win two gold medals in boxing. She captured Olympic middleweight titles in 2012 in London and in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I’m more excited than ever,” Shields said in a statement. “I’m 100 percent recovered, and I can’t wait to get back in the ring and fight in front of my hometown fans in Flint as undisputed champion of the world. Having the opportunity to become world champion in a third weight division faster than any man or woman in boxing history will make October 5 a night I will cherish forever. It’s another big step in history, and giant step forward in lifting women’s boxing on the road to equality.”

Habazin is 20-3 with seven KOs.

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