Savannah Marshall defends her WBO middleweight world title against Femke Hermans in Newcastle
(Picture: Action Images via Reuters)Femke Hermans is the challenger for Savannah Marshall tonight as the WBO middleweight title holder defends her belt in Newcastle.
Hartlepool’s unbeaten Silent Assassin is bidding both to successfully defend the belt she has held since October 2020 for the third time and also crucially set up a blockbuster undisputed clash with long-time adversary Claressa Shields, who holds the WBA, WBC, IBF, WBF and The Ring titles.
Marshall remains the only person ever to have defeated the self-proclaimed greatest woman of all time, with that victory over highly-decorated two-time Olympic gold medalist Shields coming in the amateur World Championships way back in 2012.
The rivalry between the confident duo has been simmering away ever since, coming to the boil in Cardiff last month when they embroiled in a heated ringside row after Shields had easily defended her titles by outpointing Ema Kozin on UK debut.
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Shields played her part in teeing up one of the biggest female fights of all time with that victory at Motorpoint Arena, now Shields must do the same this weekend.
Looking to upset the narrative is Hermans, Belgium’s former WBO super-middleweight champion and current European middleweight title-holder, who was outboxed by Shields in 2018.
This is a clash long in the making, having originally supposed to have taken place a year ago before also being pushed back from March to April 2022.
Marshall vs Hermans date, start time, venue and ring walks
Marshall vs Hermans takes place on Saturday April 2, 2022 at the Vertu Motors Arena in Newcastle.
The main televised undercard is due to begin at 8pm BST, with ring walks for the main event expected at around 10pm.
As ever, those times are subject to change.
Marshall vs Hermans fight card/undercard in full
Savannah Marshall vs Femke Hermans
Florian Marku vs Chris Jenkins
Brad Rea vs Lukasz Ndafoluma
Zak Chelli vs Jack Kilgannon
Michael Webster vs Mehmet Bingoel
April Hunter vs Ester Konecna
Luke Cope vs Lee Connelly
Georgia O'Connor vs Erica Alvarez
Michael Likalu vs Carl Turney
Matty Harris vs Mait Metsis
Chloe Watson vs Gemma Ruegg
Hosea Stewart vs Phil Williams
How to watch Marshall vs Hermans
TV channel: In the UK, Saturday night’s Boxxer card is being broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Action, with coverage starting at 8pm.
Live stream: Subscribers can also catch all the action online via the Sky Go app. Sky Sports’ Facebook and YouTube pages will also have live coverage of the early undercard from 5:30pm.
Marshall vs Hermans fight prediction
Hermans certainly doesn’t lack for experience of world title fights, while she has rattled off three comfortable victories since her pair of defeats to Shields and unified super-middleweight champion Elin Cederroos - including emphatic stoppages of Borislava Goranova and Lili Jumali in her native Belgium.
But the formidable Marshall is another hugely daunting step up for the 32-year-old. The hard-hitting British favourite is still undefeated, with nine of her 11 pro wins coming by way of knockout.
Shields comprehensively outboxed Hermans to easily defend her titles in California back in 2018 and we’d expect the same result here, but with Marshall potentially adding another impressive KO to her record - the first pro stoppage of Hermans - as she looks to send a defiant message to her arch-rival ahead of a massive contest later in the year.
Marshall to win by KO in round seven.
Marshall vs Hermans weigh-in
The weigh-in for Saturday night’s card takes place on Friday afternoon. Check back in then for the results!
Marshall vs Hermans betting odds
Marshall win: 1/50
Hermans win: 17/1
Draw: 33/1
Marshall by decision/technical decision: 16/5
Marshall by KO, TKO or DQ: 1/5
Hermans by decision/technical decision: 35/1
Hermans by KO, TKO or DQ: 25/1
