WBO middleweight champion Savannah ‘Silent Assassin’ Marshall 12-0 (10) has called out WBC, WBA and IBF counterpart Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields 12-0 (2) for her comments on race ahead of their clash at the O2 Arena in London, England on Saturday night.
In a recent interview with SecondOut, Shields said: “She’s a hater, she wishes she was me. She wishes she had the belts and the gold medals, but she doesn’t. Marshall just wants to be me, she wishes she was black and everything. It’s just sad.”
Those comments didn’t go down well with Marshall.
“For me, race shouldn’t be mentioned in sport and I thought, ‘Claressa rail it in, you’re about to cross the line there’,” Marshall said.
“That’s probably the only thing, but like I said she needs to be careful. It never affected me personally but when she’s saying it I’m thinking ‘hang on Claressa’. That shouldn’t be involved in sport, what’s she’s playing at? It’s no wonder people don’t like her with comments like that.”
The 31-year-old Marshall, who won the vacant WBO crown against Hannah Rankin two years ago and has defended the belt three times since, insists the baiting by Shields isn’t going to see her lose focus.
“She’s had a lot to say about me but it doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t get under my skin,” Marshall said. “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.”
The Shields-Marshall bout will top an all-female card that will also feature Mikaela Mayer 17-0 (5) unifying her IBF and WBO super featherweight titles against WBC boss Alycia Baumgardner 12-1 (7). There will be a total of 10 fights on the card.
“Three years ago I boxed at The O2, I was on at about 8 o’clock and I was the only female on the card,” Marshall said. “Three years later I’m at the top of the bill on an all-female card, that’s progress. It’s a brilliant moment for me, when I first turned professional this is all I wanted now that I’ve got.”
Shields has always maintained she is the face of women’s boxing after winning the gold at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.
“I’ve always said that women’s boxing can sell and that I was the one,” Shields said. “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.”
