Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall were full of praise for one another after their undisputed middleweight title fight in London on Saturday night.
The sold out O2 Arena played host to the first ever all female card in British boxing history, put on by Ben Shalom’s Boxxer and was topped off by a brilliant contest for all the middleweight treasure which Shields would win via unanimous decision.
The ‘GWOAT’ started extremely sharp, having a healthy lead by the halfway stage. Marshall came back and had her own success in the later stages but Shields’ speed and accuracy just proved to be a level above and came out the victor with scores of 96-94, 97-93 and 97-93.
The American showed pure emotion in her post fight interview.
“From the sixth round onwards I couldn’t see out of my right eye because she hits so hard.
I want to thank Savannah Marshall and her team and the whole UK for being here
She’s a tough competitor, she’s a hard puncher, she has endurance. She’s got a lot left for sure.”
Marshall joined in the interview and showed her respect.
“Claressa’s a brilliant fighter, she definitely is. She’s a brilliant fighter and she’s definitely earned the title of the ‘greatest women of all time’.”
Shields took revenge after Marshall inflicted the only defeat of her career in the amateur world championships in China in 2012. Both said they’d be open to a rematch to settle the score once and for all, however Shields might have MMA commitments to fulfil with the PFL first.