Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall headline an historic evening of women’s boxing at the O2 Arena in London tonight.
The long-time rivals meet for the undisputed middleweight championship as the main event of the first all-female UK boxing card featuring 11 fights and 22 women.
American Shields and Britain’s Marshall both have 12-0 professional records.
Between them, they hold all four world middleweight titles and their fight has the ingredients of a compelling contest.
CLICK HERE TO FOLLOW SHIELDS VS MARSHALL LIVE!
Shields owns three of those belts but the only defeat of her long and distinguished career came against Marshall at the amateur world championships in China in 2012.
Shields is still unhappy when reflecting on that defeat. “I had a lot against me,” she said. “I feel like I fought against her, I fought against the judges, I fought against the ref. It wasn’t to me a fair fight.”
Since then though, the American has been undisputed world champion in two different weight classes and all the middleweight belts are on the line at the 02 Arena.
At the press conference this week, Shields promised to "school" Marshall. “She's a bum," said Shields. “I'm about to show everybody that there's levels.”
Marshall made her professional debut in 2017, the same year Shields first became world champion, as she fought on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor in Las Vegas, having signed with Mayweather Promotions after turning over.
She eventually left to return to the UK and in her ninth professional fight became WBO middleweight champion after stopping Hannah Rankin. Three defences have followed since then - now she gets her shot at the biggest of prizes.
Shields vs Marshall date, start time, venue and ring walks
Shields vs Marshall takes place tonight, Saturday, October 15 2022, at the 02 Arena in London.
The ring walks for the main event should be around 10pm BST though as ever, those times are subject to change.
Shields vs Marshall fight card/undercard in full
It’s an all-female card tonight, unchanged after lost month’s postponement.
Alycia Baumgardner, who beat Terri Harper in Sheffield last year to win the WBC and IBO belts, puts those on the line against Mikaela Mayer, the WBO and IBF champion, in what should be a thrilling super-featherweight bout.
Lauren Price and partner Karris Artingstall, both medalists at the 2020 Olympics, each took victories. The pair had previously agreed to not fight on the same night, but have briefly put that to one side to take part in an historic night.
Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall
Alycia Baumgardner bt Mikaela Mayer
Lauren Price bt Timea Belik
Caroline Dubois bt Milena Koleva
Karriss Artingstall bt Marina Sakharov
April Hunter bt Erica Alvarez
Shannon Ryan bt Bucha El Quassi
Georgia O’Connor bt Joyce van Ee
Ginny Fuchs bt Gemma Ruegg
Sarah Liegmann bt Bec Connolly
How to watch Shields vs Marshall
TV channel: In the UK, Shields vs Marshall is being broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Arena, with coverage getting underway at 7:30pm BST.
Live stream: Sky Sports subscribers will be able to watch the card via the Sky Go App.
Live blog: You can also follow the entire card via Standard Sport’s live blog tonight.
Shields vs Marshall fight prediction
Boxing promoters are never shy in using the phrase ‘50-50 fight’, but this looks to be a bout worthy of that title.
That loss to Marshall was Shields’ only defeat as an amateur and since then it’s been a perfect run in the professional ranks, with ten of those 12 wins coming on points. It’s five years since she last knocked a fighter out.
It’s a record that is flipped for Marshall, who has been taken the distance only twice in her 12 bouts as a pro. She was typically destructive in taking out Femke Hermans in April, a fighter who went the full ten round with Shields four years ago.
Similarly Marshall stopped Rankin, who was beaten on points by Shields earlier in her career. The American will of course argue that she faced those two when they were better fighters, and that her record is a far more impressive one considering the strength of opponents.
It’s certainly a big step up for Marshall, who for all her exciting talent has not been fighting at the elite level for as long as Shields. The big question is whether her power is enough to slow Shields down and stop the technical ability of the American taking control.
The quality of both fighters means a knockout win for either is perhaps unlikely, so we’re going for Shields to just edge a thrilling fight on points.
Shields vs Marshall weigh-in results
Shields and Marshall both weighed-in at 159.3lbs on Friday afternoon, comfortably inside the middleweight limit.
Tempers boiled over between Mayer and Baumgardner, who have clashed throughout the build-up to their unified super-featherweight bout, both came in at 129.3lbs.
THE FINAL FACE-OFF! 🚫
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) October 14, 2022
Mayer and Baumgardner pulled apart again! 🤬@Boxxer | @trboxing pic.twitter.com/1QxljADYsa
Shields vs Marshall betting odds
Shields to win: 8/11
Marshall to win: 11/10
Draw: 12/1
Shields to win by decision/technical decision: 11/10
Shields to win by KO, TKO or DQ: 9/1
Marshall to win by decision/technical decision: 13/5
Marshall to win by KO, TKO or DQ: 7/2
Odds via Betfair (subject to change).
