Claressa Shields v Savannah Marshall preview: Shields to suffer first professional defeat?

In what is set to be a historic night for women’s boxing, Claressa Shields will look to defend her world titles against a fiery rival in Savannah Marshall.

The action kicks off this Saturday at the O2 Arena, London.

We preview the best of the action below.

Shields to cruise through to another decision win?

Claressa Shields has an extensive resume, having held multiple world titles across three weight categories: light middleweight, middleweight and super middleweight. Her record stands at 12-0 and the ‘T-Rex’ is classed as the best active middleweight in the world by Boxrec.

Shields heads into this match up as the 5/6 favourite, which is not surprising given that she holds the record for being the only fighter in history, male or female, to hold all four major world titles-WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF- simultaneously across two weight classes.

Peter Fury, Shields’ coach, has worked hard to mould her fight game into a sight to behold, perfectly balancing aggression with a top-class technical approach. Shields comes into this fight off a unanimous decision win over Ema Kozin in which she proved her dominance and retained her belts.

When it comes to her method of victory, only two of Shield’s fights have ended within the distance, with the other 10 going to the judges’ scorecards. It’s fair to say that she doesn’t possess the same knockout power as her opponent, and Shields to win by decision would be a sensible bet if you’re looking to back the American, which is priced at EVS.

Bookmakers don’t see this fight ending prior to the judges scorecards, with the odds of the fight going the distance being 4/11.

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Marshall vies to steal the show

Savannah Marshall also possesses a similarly impressive resume, with the same record of 12-0, but where she really stands out is with her impressive knockout rate of 83.33%, or 10 knockouts from 12 fights. Marshall also currently holds the WBO world middleweight title, which she defended in magnificent fashion against Femke Hermans last time out, knocking her out in the third round.

Despite her natural power, the Brit heads into the bout as the underdog, with odds of 11/10 to clinch the victory. Interestingly, the pair have actually already fought as amateurs, and during that fight Marshall came out the victor.

Part of the alure of this middleweight titan match up is that there is genuine bad blood between the pair, which makes it even more likely that we see them coming out with menace. If you fancy Marshall to win by knockout, William Hill have boosted the returns from 3/1 to 7/2.

It’s worth noting that if Marshall can’t put Shields away early, it may be a test of her endurance since she hasn’t had to fight to the distance since 2018. Despite this, a rigorous 12-week training camp and five extra week delay should surely be enough to build Marshall’s endurance and stamina.

At a fiery press conference on Thursday, Shields claimed that Marshall doesn’t possess the knockout power she claims to have, saying: “You better punch as hard as you say you can, because if you ain’t got no punching power, oh my god, its going to be a hard night for you.”

The question of Marshall’s true power remains, and we will get to see both athletes on full display this Saturday and get a definite answer to settle their rivalry once and for all. Either way this fight plays out, it should be fireworks from start to finish. You won’t want to miss it!

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