Shields Wants Savannah Marshal in 2020
As 2019 is rapidly coming to a close it’s only natural to start fantasizing and forecasting what bouts can be put together for 2020. Clearly unified middleweight champion Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (9-0, 2 KO’s) is in the same frame of mind. Without question, T-Rex would want to have a far busier year than this one. Shields followed up a very busy four-fight year in 2018 with a single-fight year in 2019.
SHIELDS’ ANEMIC 2019
Back in April, Shields took on Christina Hammer (24-1, 11 KO’s) in a high stakes unification grudge match. Prior to the bout, the word on the street was this would be a competitive prizefight that would be a serious test for the Flint, Michigan native. Once in the ring however, Shields rather easily dominated Hammer for every minute of every round.
Claressa Shields was going to end the year with a scrappy fight against Ivana Habazin (20-3, 7 KO’s). That was until Habazin’s chief second, James Ali Bashir, was essentially ambushed at their weigh-in. As a result Ali was knocked out, seriously injured and rushed to the hospital. In the aftermath of the melee, the prizefight was called off and has yet to be rescheduled.
Claressa Shields herself has indicated that the dust-up with Habazin will be rearranged and is likely to take place in the first quarter of 2020. Regardless of whether the Habazin bout materializes or not, Shields will definitely be gunning for a fight with her amateur rival Savannah “Silent Assassin” Marshall (8-0, 6 KO’s).
T-REX LOOKING FOR SOME PROFESSIONAL PAYBACK
For those not in the loop, Marshall defeated Shields in the amateurs. In fact, Marshall is the only person that can claim a win over T-Rex. When Savannah turned professional in 2017, one year after Claressa Shields, naturally the drums started beating for this do-over in the pro-ranks. While there was a little bit of social media back-and-forth between the fistic-minded females, nothing of substance arose.
Now, Shields has publicly turned her attention to the Silent Assassin. Via her InstaGram account, T-Rex has announced that she wants the showdown with Marshall in the upcoming year. Following her most recent boxing match with Ashleigh Curry (8-13-4, 1 KO’s), Marshall indicated that she felt the bout needed time to grow.
Skill-wise, the Silent Assassin feels on par with Shields. However, from a marketing standpoint, she felt that she needed to build her name in the market. It’ll be interesting to see what Marshall decides if a solid contract is actually shoved in her face. If the bout is made, it should make for one fun build-up.
MORE POTENTIAL RIVALS
Outside of Marshall, Shields has been pursuing a super fight with unified welterweight champion Cecelia “First Lady” Braekhus (35-0, 9 KO’s) for some time. Not only has she been vocal for that bout, her fight with Habazin was an effort to drop down a notch in the weight divisions so that she could meet Braekhus in the middle. Although, there is no guarantee that this scrap will take place either.
Also in recent news, T-Rex has resumed a social media beef with long time antagonist Raquel “Pretty Beast” Miller (9-0, 4 KO’s). These two have maintained a snarky, cantankerous relationship for years. The two highly-skilled women clearly don’t like one another and that’s precisely why this fight should happen.
With all these potential names, Habazin, Marshall, Miller and Braekhus, theoretically Claressa Shields should have no problem penning a meaningful match in 2020. Yet, as always, we will just have to sit back and watch how all these potential bouts and beefs play out over the negation tables!
By: Bakari Simpson
