Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall to Hopefully Settle Up in June
In her next contract slugfest, on February 5, undisputed super welterweight and unified middleweight champion Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (11-0, 2 KO’s) will defend her trio of titles against the challenge of Ema “The Princess” Kozin (21-0-1, 11 KO’s). Kozin isn’t exactly moving the needle on the richter scale of popularity or excitement. However, according to DAZN, this is still a significant dustup. This is because, on the other side of victory, there lies a coveted prize for Shields. She could finally get her paws on long-time rival and WBO middleweight champion Savannah “Silent Assassin” Marshall (11-0, 9 KO’s). The assumption is that Marshall also defeats Femke Hermans on March 12. Then Shields and Marshall will look to throw blows sometime in June.
The two-time gold medalist has been aching to sink her teeth into Marshall since losing to her well back in her amateur days. Let Shields tell it, she would have loved to have faced the Silent Assassin before ever turning pro. However, their paths were fated not to cross again. Since both have begun collecting pay for doling out ass whippings, the boxing world naturally has wanted to see this rematch.
Even now, Marshall is the only person to ever get the best of Shields in the amateur or professional ranks. To this point as professionals, while both sides have traded words, Team Shields has come across as more serious about actually wanting to get the fight done now. Yet, provided both women win their next assignments, that talking point will quickly become moot if they dance a brutal dervish in June. So, let’s hope that the stars align so that we get Marshall versus Shields come mid-year!
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By: Bakari Simpson
