Claressa Shields has accused Savannah Marshall of faking an injury after their undisputed title fight was delayed.
Marshall and Shields have been trading verbal jabs on social media ahead of a battle for all the marbles at middleweight. The pair were set to finally lace up their gloves and settle their rivalry in July, but Marshall required surgery on an undisclosed arm injury which put the fight on hold.
Shields has hit out at Marshall in a series of bizarre tweets questioning why her rival was not wearing a cast. She first tweeted: “You all talking bout Marshmallow had surgery on her arm. Where the f*** is the arm sleeve, the cast, SOMETHING! This bum is faking an arm injury! It don’t even matter! I'm f***ing her up! All of you Marshall fans gonna be silent! Forever!"
The 'Gwoat' later posted a video of Marshall at The Cube Live Experience in Manchester demanding proof that an injury has caused the delay. “Look at this! Savannah Marshall which arm you had surgery on!? Please do tell. EXACTLY! Shut the f*** up! Not even an arm sleeve! Born a day not yesterday! Faking a damn injury! See you in September! Same results! I’m gonna win! Hating ass bum.”
Shields continued her lengthy rant by sharing an image of her stood alongside her rival back in 2015, captioned: "December 12 in 2015, when my wrist was broken! Literally had a cast on and Savannah Marshall said I was too scared to spar her. I’m irritated this morning cause I know she is faking!”
Shields initially signed for BOXXER and made her UK debut by outpointing Ema Kozin to fulfil her end of the bargain. She then clashed with Marshall in a fiery confrontation next to the ring where they were separated by security. Earlier this year, Marshall defended her title with a statement stoppage of Shields' former opponent Femke Hermans.
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Once again, the pair came face-to-face in the ring after the fight shouting vicious warnings at each other with the fight close to agreement. The fight was set to take place in July with several venues being touted including St James' Park in Newcastle.
Shields claimed she signed two contracts from her side of the negotiating table to fight in July. However Ben Shalom has urged the unified champion to be patient with her opportunity still on the horizon. “Savannah had to have a small operation that unexpectedly required her to need a few weeks of recovery,” he said. “That meant, obviously, that July was too early, which means that we’ll just go back four or five weeks.
“Hopefully Claressa is going to be sensible and accept that both of them need to be fit and ready for what is the biggest fight in both of their careers and one of the biggest fights in the sport.”
