An undisputed female middleweight title fight between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall could be announced on April 2.
That night Marshall will make the third defence of her WBO belt against Belgian Femke Hermans at Newcastle Arena, live on Sky Sports. Promoter Ben Shalom told Boxing Social’s Ryan Elliott that work is going on behind the scenes to ensure that the super-fight can be made official on the night.
“We’re working incredibly hard to make sure we can try and announce a specific date on April 2,” he said.
“Savannah’s got to defend her WBO, it is the mandatory on April 2 and Claressa’s going to be there working for Sky and we hope that we can announce the fight on that date.
“It’s a fight we’ve built towards for a while. It’s a fight we’re really excited about and really want to make. [I] think it’s one of the biggest fights in female boxing worldwide, a lot of broadcaster interest as well. I think April, fingers crossed, we’ll be able to announce that properly.”
Shields, who holds the three other titles in her division, fought last month in Cardiff on the Chris Eubank Jr-Liam Williams card. Her points win over Ema Kozin was watched ringside by Shields. The two rivals then became involved in a heated exchanged during the winner’s post-fight interview with Sky Sports.