Savannah Marshall v Femke Hermans preview: Marshall’s title legacy on the line

The undefeated Savannah Marshall takes aim at Femke Hermans this Saturday as the Hartlepool fighter defends her WBO middleweight belt.

Is Marshall’s title reign set to continue?

Savannah Marshall (11-0-0, 9 KOs) has held the WBO middleweight title since 2020 and she is not willing to let it change hands any time soon.

Her reign as champion all started with a seventh-round stoppage of Hannah Rankin to win the vacant belt, which was then followed by two impressive defences in 2021. The ‘Silent Assassin’ saw off Maria Lindberg within three rounds in April, and in her most recent fight, dazzled when stopping Lolita Muzeya in just two rounds.

With a height advantage of just over three inches, Marshall is likely going to be able to control the range of the fight against Hermans with her precise counter punching. Marshall is a huge 1/33 favourite, she’s 2/9 to win via knockout, with the Hartlepool-native also 10/3 to claim a decision victory.

The WBO middleweight title holder has been on a collision course for some time with her old amateur rival, Claressa Shields, and a win here should secure that match for later this year.

Marshall and Shields went head-to-head in person, following the American’s defence of her WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight titles against Ema Kozin in Cardiff in January and an epic clash between the pair is now getting ever so close.

Unexpected upset on the cards?

In boxing, you never know – Femke Hermans (12-3-0, 5 KOs) briefly reigned as WBO champion at super middleweight and has faced Shields before, losing every round of a middleweight title challenge in 2018.

Hermans’ next fight was for the IBF super middleweight title, where she dropped a majority decision to Elin Cederroos. But since then, she has won three straight bouts and is coming off a third-round knockout win over Lili Jumali.

This weekend, she’ll be facing off with someone who many label the biggest pound-for-pound puncher in women’s boxing. So that experience against the best of the division will surely come in handy.

The Belgian is a live underdog at 8/1, and there is indeed some teak to the 32-year-old former champ, who should be game for 12 rounds. Hermans to win via decision is 22/1.

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