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<\/a>Unified Women\u2019s Super Middleweight World Champion Claressa Shields and unified 154-pound champion Hanna Gabriels spoke to the media at a workout session in Detroit just days before the two clash to decide the IBF & WBA Women\u2019s Middleweight World Championships this Friday on SHOWTIME.<\/p>\nThe SHOWTIME BOXING: SPECIAL EDITION telecast begins at 10 p.m. ET\/PT and features the No. 1 fighter at 168 pounds facing the No. 1 fighter at 154 pounds as they both attempt to become champions for the first time in the middleweight division. The telecast also features unified women\u2019s middleweight champion Christina Hammer defending her WBC & WBO titles in her U.S. debut against former world champion Tori Nelson. Also, light heavyweight prospects Umar Salamov and Brian Howard will meet in a 10-round matchup that will open the tripleheader from Masonic Temple in Detroit.<\/p>\n
Tickets for the event, which is promoted by Salita Promotions, are available at Ticketmaster.com or at the Masonic Temple Box Office at (313) 832-7100. VIP tickets are priced at $300, ringside tickets at $125, and remaining tickets at $75, $50 and $35.<\/p>\n
Here is what Shields and Gabriels had to say today at the Downtown Boxing Gym in Detroit:<\/p>\n
CLARESSA SHIELDS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been seven weeks of really hard work. A lot of people don\u2019t know and I really don\u2019t like to be open about it, but I got to 183 pounds after my last fight in January and now I\u2019m 160. That\u2019s 23 pounds. I was in camp running and getting ready for the fight and having to focus on weight was very different for me.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel good and ready to go. I\u2019m happy that she made it in safe and all that but now I\u2019m just excited. You all know how I get before fights. The champ is here.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much has changed since I first turned pro. In my first fight, I was frustrated against Franchon (Crews Dezurn) during our fight. I was frustrated throughout camp and I really couldn\u2019t handle everything that was going on. Now I know how to handle the media, the workouts, the interviews and still remain disciplined. The fact that I had to lose so much weight this camp only added more discipline.<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes me so happy and it just touches my heart to see four female fighters on the main fight poster. I was so happy that they decided to put them on TV. They have put me on before but it\u2019s always been my goal to put other women on so when they decided to put Tori Nelson and Christina Hammer on I was so excited because this has never been done before. Women\u2019s boxing is going somewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cI always knew that it would take me to turn professional for women\u2019s boxing to go to a higher level. That\u2019s why I waited to win a second Gold Medal before I turned professional. To be the one to be the leader is special. I feel like I go out there every fight and give my best and show that I can box better than 90 percent of the men that box. If you have a choice to make a man the main event or me the main event, I always want them to choose me.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s always mutual respect between me and my opponents. I\u2019m thankful for them because I can\u2019t do this by myself. I thank Hanna for stepping up and it\u2019s mutual respect until Friday. I start getting really mean on Thursday, Friday is the fight and then after that we can exchange numbers and be friends.<\/p>\n \u201cI expect her to use her gifts. She\u2019s really good on her legs and she\u2019s strong up top. I think she lacks in speed so I expect her to try to counter me and try to force me to make mistakes with her movement. I think she underrates my power.<\/p>\n \u201cI never said that I wanted to get more knockouts. I\u2019m perfectly fine being 5-0 with two knockouts. At the end of the day, I\u2019m fine with that. The longer I\u2019m in the ring boxing, the better. The more they get to see me on TV, that\u2019s fine. Of course I would love to get the big knockout but look how disappointed Errol Spence Jr. was to get such a quick knockout of Ocampo. That didn\u2019t please his fans. If the knockout comes, it comes.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be my toughest fight. She\u2019s the most skilled and has the most experience. She\u2019s a three-time world champion. I\u2019ve fought former world champions but she\u2019s a three-time world champion to date. The girl that beat her, Hanna avenged that loss. I\u2019m looking forward to her coming out and putting 100 percent in and I hope for us to have a great fight.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m always confident going into fights. I\u2019m not leaving the ring without having two new belts.\u201d<\/p>\n HANNA GABRIELS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI think that this is a time right now where women can have this type of platform. Claressa is a great champion and I have faced great women\u2019s champions. I think it\u2019s a great time for boxing fans to enjoy a quality fight. She\u2019s a champion. I\u2019m a champion. This will be a great matchup.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are going to see a very technical and aggressive fighter. That\u2019s the only way that you can fight Claressa because she\u2019s so aggressive herself and so tough, you can\u2019t go in the ring passive against her. You have to put your life on the line in there and that\u2019s what I\u2019m planning to do.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel honored to be on such a great card. This is a great opportunity and I just hope everybody sees this the way that I do. We trained hard. In my case, I wanted to bring the very best out of myself so the fans could leave the arena feeling great. This is what boxing is all about. Bringing entertainment and emotions that most other sports don\u2019t bring to people.<\/p>\n \u201cThis fight means a lot to me. Every person that I love is going through a hard time right now, including my family. I just want to lead by example and show everybody that all odds are nothing. You can still fight the battle with as many resources or as little resources as you have. I\u2019m dedicating this fight to all my loved ones because I promise there will be better times for us.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was five years old I was sexually abused so my teenage years were tough. Sports always took me away from that. When I got an injury and I had to stop competing in track, I thought my life was over. For the next five or six years, I was very destructive and felt like I didn\u2019t have a purpose. When I turned 24, I started a different passage and learned that everything that happened to me just made me the person I am today.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t really focus on anybody\u2019s weaknesses because we believe if you\u2019re a good professional and you are dedicating your life to this, you are supposed to get better at your weaknesses. So we focus on her strengths and I think we have a great plan. They say that she\u2019s been underestimating me a lot but I think it\u2019s part of her game and part of what she does.<\/p>\n \u201cI think her strengths are pretty obvious. She has great feet. I don\u2019t know if she punches hard but she\u2019s very explosive. She must have a lot of power and she\u2019s very defensive. She keeps her distance and she\u2019s so big and I\u2019m so small that we will have to risk a lot of things. Her confidence is one of her biggest strengths.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will probably be my toughest fight so far. I never had an amateur career, I had just one fight. Claressa has fought 80-something times so my schooling has been in the professional environment and I have had to learn in the process. Every fight has been a hard fight because I have to solve problems and I think she is definitely the toughest opponent because she\u2019s so tall and so fast. She must walk around normally at 185 pounds and I\u2019m not as big so we were a little worried at the beginning at how we would reach her body but we finally were able to figure that out in training and I\u2019m confident that my game is going to surprise her a lot.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully we can bring a surprise and people will get to see me and let everybody know that there are more great boxers out there that aren\u2019t getting the same exposure or marketing that Claressa is getting. I don\u2019t feel disrespected, I see this is an opportunity to show what I\u2019ve been working on. Let them plan. Maybe those plans will fall.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a great fight. She\u2019s coming for the victory and I\u2019m coming for the victory as well. She\u2019s in for a big surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n