One of the most highly anticipated female fights takes place tomorrow as Hartlepool's Savannah Marshall faces Claressa Shields, with the middleweight pair continuing their storied rivalry.
The fight has been postponed for a month following the death of the Queen on September 8, two days before their originally scheduled bout. It has been rescheduled for this Saturday, 15 October and will be the main event of an exciting card. It will be the first time that an all female professional boxing card has taken place in the UK.
Marshall inflicted Shields' only defeat of her entire professional and amateur career back in 2012 and the pair's careers have run parallel. This will be their first professional meeting, with their middleweight unification bout putting Shields' WBA, WBC, IBF, WBF, and The Ring female middleweight titles on the line against Marshall's WBO crown.
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There has been a new belt added to the contest, with the WBC having unveiled an additional belt, named the ‘Elizabethan Belt’, with WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman, explaining the decision, saying: “Queen Elizabeth II will live forever in our hearts and minds, the boxing world unites to render homage to one of the greatest human beings that ever lived, here where boxing was born.”
Double Olympic Champion Shields brings her titles to the UK to take on Marshall who has an unbeaten record so far in her career with a record of 12-0 and ten of those wins coming via knockout. However, she has only become world champion in the middleweight division while Shields has become undisputed champion across two weight divisions.
The fight will be the main event of a historic card, as the first all-female professional card taking place in the UK with Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner supporting the pair in a super-featherweight clash for the WBC, WBO and IBF titles.
Here is how you can follow the action on Saturday night:
When is Shields vs Marshall?
The fight takes place at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday, 15 October.
What time is Shields vs Marshall?
Ring-walks are expected at around 10.30pm UK time, though that depends on the length of the undercard fights.
The first fight of the night is scheduled for 5pm BST (9am PST, 11am CST, 12pm EST), with the main card following at 8pm BST (12pm PST, 2pm CST, 3pm EST).
How can I watch Shields vs Marshall?
The fight will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and will be streamed via the app on their mobile, tablet or computer device. A Sky Sports Day Pass is available via NOW TV for £11.99.
Undercard in full:
- Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall (undisputed women’s middleweight title)
- Mikaela Mayer vs Alycia Baumgardner (unified women’s super-featherweight title)
- Lauren Price vs Timea Belik (women’s welterweight)
- Karris Artingstall vs Marina Sakharov (women’s featherweight)
- Caroline Dubois vs Milena Koleva (women’s lightweight)
- Ebonie Jones vs Vanessa Caballero (women’s super-bantamweight)
- April Hunter vs Erica Alvarez (women’s super-welterweight)
- Georgia O’Connor vs Joyce van Ee (women’s super-welterweight)
- Shannon Ryan vs Bucha El Quassi (women’s super-flyweight)
- Ginny Fuchs vs Gemma Ruegg (women’s super-flyweight)
- Sarah Liegmann vs Bec Connolly (women’s super-bantamweight)
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