Claressa Shields finally got her revenge on Savannah Marshall… but it wasn’t easy.
Shields had to dig deep to beat Marshall by a unanimous decision to become the undisputed middleweight champion at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday night.
The scores – 97-93, 97-93 and 96-94 – don’t really reflect how competitive the back-and-forth battle is.
“I’ve worked hard for a long time,” said a tearful Shields afterward. “And no one credits me. But after that performance tonight and after that tough opponent… you know, I couldn’t even see my right eye in rounds 6 to 10 because she hit so hard.
“But I was disappointed. And I did what I do in training. And I got the job done.”
Shields (13-0.2 KOs) had a strong start, using speed and movement to get past the larger Marshall (12-1, 10 KOs) and land clean, eye-catching punches.
However, Marshall soon caught his breath and fought Shields, lunging forward, delivering multiple punches and frequently pinning his more famous opponent to the rope.
Shields did some good work in those situations, counter-attacking effectively. But Marshall certainly earned some points for effective aggression.
That was the way it was for most of the 10 rounds, with both fighters working equally hard and each having positive moments in a hard-fought match.
In the end, Shields clearly won the judges over with the aforementioned clean shots. When she lands punches to Marshall’s head or body, you can’t miss them.
Shields said: “She hit her big time, I hit her in the back big time. “If she hits me hard, I will punch her hard. There were times when I threw her on the rope and hit the target. There was a time when she won on the rope.
“But I know I got the most work done today and I won [on] inside.”
Then Marshall took credit for his opponent.
“Claressa is an excellent boxer, she definitely is,” said the British girl. “She’s not as fast as I thought. But, no, she’s an excellent fighter. She definitely earned the title of Greatest Woman of All Time.”
The main plot going into the fight is that Marshall is the only boxer to ever defeat Shields, which was revealed when Sheilds was 17 years old in the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Championship.
Shields finally avenged that defeat.
“She was a tough opponent,” Shields said. “She is a tough fighter, she has endurance. But I’m a better fighter 10 years later. And if you ask me, I lost to her 2-0 because I never felt like I lost to her in amateurs. Now I guess we could say we are drawing 1-1″.
Can they have a rubber match?
Shields said there was a rematch clause in the contract for a controversial decision. This is the result. However, Shields, who says she dreams of fighting at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, is still up for it.
“Absolutely possible,” she said. “If that’s what the fans want, that’s what we’ll do.”
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