Claressa Shields Can’t Wait to Derail Savannah Marshall
It’s no secret that there is a long standing feud between undisputed two-division champion Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (11-, 2 KO’s) and WBO middleweight champion Savannah “Silent Assassin” Marshall (11-0, 9 KO’s). It’s equally well-known that Marshall is the only fighter to defeat T-Rex either professionally or in the amateurs.
Naturally being the competitive creature that she is, Shields has sought payback ever since that loss at the tender age of 17.
“You know I’ve been wanting to fight against Savannah Marshall since I lost to her in the amateurs when I was 17 years old. To lose that fight and then three months later become Olympic champion, it still was, to me, a stain on my record.
“So I stayed amateur, I went back to the 2016 Olympics and won again. She was there at all those tournaments…and every time, one fight before she had to fight me, she always lost. So that just shows levels.”
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!
Now, the stage appears to be properly set for the two to collide in 2022, provided nothing goes haywire in the meantime. Shields is certainly happy that the fight is coming down the pipe now, but she wished that it had taken place sooner. And as she told SecondsOut, the bout didn’t go unmade for lack of trying.
RELATED: Savannah Marshall on Claressa Shields: “100% The Fight Will Happen!”
“We’ve been pushing, we were in talks with Eddie Hearn when she was with Matchroom. Then, all of a sudden when we got close to a deal with Eddie Hearn, she up and jumped to Sky Sports, so we went to Sky Sports. We are the ones chasing her! She is not chasing us.”
FROM LEMONS TO REFRESHMENT
As it often is in life, when one sought outcome is not achieved, an unexpected beneficial development may take its place. This was a fortuitous occurrence that took place with Team Shields when attempting to previously try to pen a dustup with the Silent Assassin. While the Flint, Michigan native did not get the prizefight that she craved, she did come up on a juicy business deal.
“I could be fighting on DAZN and working with Matchroom and Eddie Hearn, but we said ‘no, if Savannah Marshall isn’t on the table, then we don’t really have a lot to talk to you about right now’. So we decided to talk to Boxxer and Sky Sports and that’s how we got the seven figure deal with them.”
Regardless of their lengthy backstory, or near misses in the professional arena, let’s just hope that Shields and Marshall can settle this beef during the first half of 2022!
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By: Bakari Simpson
