Savannah Marshall easily defeats Maria Lindberg then calls out Claressa Sheilds!
When hardcore boxing fans think of Savannah Marshall, a thought that follows not too far behind is one of two-division undisputed champion Claressa Shields. The reason being, the self-proclaimed “G.W.O.A.T” has only one blemish in her entire amateur and professional career. That blemish came from Marshall and fans cannot wait to see what happens in a rematch with professional titles on the line! For now, Marshall will make her first WBO title defense against late replacement Maria Lindberg.
RELATED: Claressa Shields: “Savannah Marshall Can’t Fuck With Me!”
The original opponent was former WBO super middleweight champion and victim of Shields, Femke Hermans. However due to COVID-19, Hermans was forced to pull out of the fight mere days before the weigh-in. Lindberg was kind enough to step in and save the title bout.
The 44 year-old from Sweden has an extensive resume, although, her success is not as great. This will mark her fifth major world title bid as she has come up short the previous four. However, she has gained quite a bit of experience in the process. She faced former unified middleweight champion Christina Hammer twice, former WBC junior middleweight champion Ewa Piatkowska and former IBF junior middleweight champion Marie Eve Dicaire.
Regardless of the experience, the skills have never really been there. This became very evident in this fight.
PREDICTABLY EASY WORK
Marshall is an excellent talent that looks to be on top of the middleweight division as long as she campaigns there. But lets face it, in conjunction to being a late replacement, Lindberg is fifteen years older and as stated earlier never really had championship level skill. The only thing she had going for her was she had never been stopped in her eighteen year career.
That would change!
The challenger had a lot of late homework on the champion she needed to do while the fight was happening but never really got a chance to study. Marshall came out with her herky-jerky style and dominated with ease. Setting up the jab and straight right hand was easy since she didn’t know it was coming. By round two, a big right hand would drop the late replacement. She recovered but was put right back down in round three.
As she lay on the canvas struggling to recover, the power she felt made her signal to her corner that she had enough!
THE FIGHT TO MAKE
In the post-fight interview, there was no hesitation to talk about Claressa Shields. Marshall, as cool and collected as she is calmly stated:
“I punch too hard for Claressa Shields. She much rather roll around in the octagon [regarding her UFC deal]. She much rather call out Katie Taylor who is a few division lower than her.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn chimed in.
“There is no way she goes 10 rounds with Marshall.”
Of course it didn’t take Shields long to respond. Watching the fight from home she took to social media in response to these comments.
By: EJ Williams
Be the first to comment