Shields refuses to admit brother assaulted Ali, insinuates police arrested wrong guy

It has been known for quite some time that Claressa Shields’ brother, Artis Mack, was the man who sucker-punched Bashir Ali earlier this month before the weigh-in of the canceled junior middleweight world title fight between Shields and Ivana Habazin at Dort Federal Center in Flint, Michigan.

FightNights.com was first to report the story.

However, there is one person who refuses to come to grips with the situation, Claressa Shields herself.

Almost immediately after the incident took place, Shields went on the record to state that the assailant was not a part of her team or her family.

“My brother dude, (are) you serious? You know how many people (are) gonna say they related to me? I don’t even know what happened, and no one from my family has called me, so it wasn’t my brother,” Shields said.

A week ago, Mack was formally charged for assaulting Ali. But according to Shields, nope -- the investigation continues.

Shields recently took to a live Instagram video to share her thoughts.

“My brother is not on the payroll,” Shields said. “He’s my brother. He’s not a part of my boxing business.

After acknowledging her brother was arrested, Shields continued to rant.

“But like I said before, it wasn’t nobody from my team. My brother is my blood. That’s my brother, you feel me?

“He’s not on the payroll. He ain’t no promoter; he wasn’t my security guard; he wasn’t my manager; he wasn’t my assistant; he wasn’t my mentor; he’s my brother.”

Shields also insinuated that perhaps the Flint Police Department got the wrong guy.

“Him (Mack) and some other guy got arrested, but this other guy is now being charged, but my brother is going through whatever he’s going through, but it wasn’t nobody from my team who’s on the payroll.”

Shields then went on to make a rather odd comparison.

“If your mother killed somebody, does that mean you killed that person? No.”

Did Shields just admit that her brother punched Ali?

“I don’t know who it was (that punched Ali); I wasn’t there,” Shields said.

Mack was initially held on a parole violation. According to records obtained by FightNights.com, the 28-year-old Mack had been in and out of prison since 2009, and was set to be discharged from parolee supervision in November.

He was on parole for assault and felony weapons violations.

According to police, Mack sucked-punched Ali from behind, causing the trainer to land hard on the concrete floor. Video shot by FightHype showed Ali bleeding from his head. He was transported out of the arena on a stretcher, with his thumbs up, to McLaren Medical Center for further evaluation.

Ali initially underwent emergency surgery for broken bones in his face and would later return to a hospital in New Jersey after doctors discovered bleeding on his brain. The operation was successful and Ali continues to recover.

A Flint Police Department statement issued Monday says that as officers were en route to the assault they observed Mack running from the building and detained him.

Sources have told FightNights.com that there will be a lawsuit.