It was recently confirmed that a fight between Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields is almost set to be made official, with an announcement likely should the former defeat Femke Hermans this weekend. Marshall will defend her title this weekend when she's set to come up against Hermans in Newcastle.
The WBO World Female Middleweight Champion from Hartlepool had initially been scheduled for March, but the bout was moved to April 2 at the Newcastle Arena. Marshall puts her title on the line against former WBO World Champion Hermans, with her attentions set to turn towards a blockbuster clash with American star Claressa Shields in what would be a title unification bout.
The two have been matched with each other for 10 years now, after Marshall famously beat Shields at amateur level in the second round of the 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao. Shields was just 16 then, though. And insists that a lot has changed since then.
READ MORE: Savannah Marshall vs Femke Hermans date and card
The Hartlepool fighter will hope to maintain her unbeaten career record this weekend first though, which now stands at 11-0, while she'll also be looking to extend her run of stoppage wins - having won her last seven without going the full distance.
A unification bout with Shields is reportedly already in the works, with BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom revealing that talks are in the 'latter stages' between the two camps.
Should a deal be agreed, a fight is likely to happen in the UK this summer, with Newcastle United's St James Park being mentioned as a potential venue. The unpredictable weather may make that tricky though, with the Newcastle Arena being a more likely destination to host the bout.
On fighting Marshall again, Shields said: "It was a decade ago, we've never fought since, we're both completely different fighters so I think it's all the ingredients for an even better rematch," said the Hartlepool fighter. She's game, I'm game. I genuinely believe it's the biggest fight in female boxing, I know some other people at the moment will disagree but I genuinely believe it is the biggest fight."
When asked if she'll defeat Shields, she said: "Of course I will. At the heavier weights the pool's very shallow and obviously Claressa is a great boxer, a great athlete, a three-time undisputed champion, different weights, but I'm just that confident I beat her. The only reason she's got the titles is because she beat me to it."
