A special fight deserves a special build-up, so BOXXER chartered a vessel to take bitter rivals Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields – plus a host of British media – down the Thames river for open workouts and staredowns in the shadow of the iconic London Tower Bridge.
Joining the crew on the ‘BOXXER Battleship’ were co-main event fighters Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner and some of the standout British fighters from the landmark arll-female card, including Lauren Price, Karriss Artingstall, Carlone Dubois, April Hunter, Georgia O’Connor, and Ebonie Jones.
As the city’s greatest landmarks rolled by, the array of stars took to the ring to work out ahead of competition on Saturday in front of the assembled media and a platoon of stars from the world of women’s spot, including Fara Williams, England’s most capped football player, and Olympic 400m Gold Medalist Christine Ohuruogo.
Super Featherweight Champions Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner also faced off before their clash on Saturday night, with the pair trading barbs on social media for months on end, all coming to an explosive conclusion this weekend at the O2 Arena, live on Sky Sports.
Savannah Marshall said, “She’s had a lot to say about me but it doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t get under my skin. I don’t care what she thinks about anything – she’s not one of my friends or family so her opinion doesn’t mean anything at all to me. We will do our talking in the ring on Saturday night – I’m going to take her into deep water and drown her in the Thames,”
Claressa Shields said, “I’ve always said that women’s boxing can sell and that I was the one. It’s nearly sold out, there will be nearly 20,000 fans in the O2 Arena and I’ve been training my butt off. I want all the smoke and when I leave the ring on Saturday night, Savannah Marshall will be silenced and I will be the undisputed middleweight champion of the world,”
Fara Williams, England’s most capped footballer: “This event is amazing, and it shows how far women’s sport has come from a few years ago. BOXXER have taken a huge risk here and it’s a good thing that it’s been done. It’s going to be a history-making event in front of 20,000 people, and there will be an undisputed Middleweight Champion. And hopefully an English one too.”
Christine Ohuruogu, Olympic 400m Gold Medalist: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity in boxing. An all women’s card, never happened before. Hopefully events like this in boxing will happen again. This follows on from the amazing women’s football in the summer. I’m so happy to see women’s sport with such positive momentum.”
Tickets for the event are almost sold out, with a small batch remaining in the £25 category. A full house is expected in London 02 Arena on Saturday night for this landmark moment in women’s sport.
VIDEO: For Legacy: Shields vs Marshall [Full Documentary]
Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields’ extraordinary, bitter rivalry has been unraveled in a revealing, tell-all documentary.
Produced by BOXXER, the fascinating feature piece uncovers the makings of both world champions and what is driving them in their bid to become the world’s undisputed best, less than a week before the most anticipated female female of all-time.
Including exclusive interviews and previously unseen material, the film – now live on YouTube – hears from both fighters, their camps and learns all about how their incredible, decade-long feud began, with predictions from both on how it will end at The O2 in London on Saturday, 10th September.
Hear their contrasting tales as Hartlepool-born Savannah Marshall details how she combated her timidness as a youngster to being crowned WBO world middleweight champion.
And American two-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning WBC, IBF and WBA world champion Claressa Shields discusses her harrowing upbringing as a child which drove her to global superstardom.
PLUS, hear from the likes of BOXXER CEO and Founder Ben Shalom, Peter Fury, Savage Dan, Spencer Oliver and more as they deliver their verdicts ahead of this titanic all-Atlantic tussle which takes place in the capital in just over a week’s time.
Savannah Marshall
On starting boxing, aged 12: “I was very sporty growing up. I played football, netball… but [aged 12] I walked into a boxing gym because one of my friends had a little plastic trophy, which I saw glisten in the sun. And I thought, I want one of them. Curiosity took a hold of me. I was more curious than anything. I remember walking up the steps in the gym, hearing music blasting and bags being punched. I was stood at the door looking through the glass, thinking I want to go in. Looking back now, and considering our painfully shy I was at that age, I can’t believe I done that.”
On Claressa Shields proclaiming to be the G.W.O.A.T (Greatest Woman of All-Time): “Claressa’s quite comical. There’s nothing she can do or say that will effect me.”
On discovering her renowned hard-hitting punching power: “I remember when I was younger, one month my mum got a discount on some steaks. And that was all we ate: steak and chips, steak pie, steak stew, steak and dumplings… you name it, we had it. So that must be why.”
On breaking away from being ‘shy’: “Everyone’s talking about the evolution of Savannah Marshall. I’ve gone from being a relative mute to being the not-so ‘Silent Assassin’.”
On working with Peter Fury: “I always knew I could dig. But when I got to train with Peter, he showed me how to punch properly.”
Claressa Shields
On losing to Savannah Marshall as an amateur – her only, ever defeat: “It was a whirlwind getting there but I never quit. After I lost to Savannah Marshall I was very angry about it.”
On her harrowing upbringing – and what has driven her to success in Boxing: “I didn’t talk a lot growing up. I didn’t talk until I was 5. And then, at the age of 11, I started boxing. I look at where I come from, and I come from the bottom – and I don’t think what people realise what the bottom is. I won the Olympics. But before I left home, I didn’t even have a bed to sleep in.”
“I went through some things growing up. I got sexually abused when I was 5. That made me really angry and confused towards people. I didn’t have a bed until after the Olympics – and that was at 17. From 14-17, and even before then, I was sleeping on floors. People wonder why I’m so hungry, it’s because it’s what I have to do for myself. If I didn’t, me and my family would have been poor forever. With the skills I have, I was never going to settle for that. I knew I was going to do something with them. I had to win the Olympics. I had to win world championships. I don’t hate these girls, but they have to understand how much I have to win. They just don’t get it.”
Ben Shalom
“Look at the difference now in Savannah in her professional days. She’s gone from being in the middle of cards to headlining events and selling out arenas, including her home city of Newcastle, which she could have only dreamt. I think this is the biggest women’s fight of all-time. But this is definitely the biggest rivalry in women’s boxing history.”
Spencer Oliver
“When I first met Savannah it was in 2010 when she was boxing for England and we saw her in Sheffield. It was myself, Johnny Nelson and Adam Smith. We all went up there to see Savannah because she was a girl with unbelievable talent – but she didn’t believe in herself. Confidence was a massive issue. If you don’t believe in yourself in boxing, you’re in trouble. You need that self-belief. But she has discovered it – and she did that by teaming up with Peter Fury. It’s an incredible journey from where she has come from to where she is now. She is arguably the best female fighter in the world – and we’re going to find that out.”
Peter Fury
“She’s the perfect student. She’s strictly business. Be diets, training regimes… whatever you throw at her, she does. You couldn’t ask for a better person to be with and to train with. She’s a no-nonsense type of person.”
Shields vs Marshall, for the undisputed world title, headlines BOXXER: ’Legacy’ – a historic all-female night of boxing – on Saturday, September 10th at The O2 in London, live and exclusive on Sky Sports. For tickets visit Boxxer.com
