Savannah Marshall: Claressa Shields does not want to taste my power, I punch far too hard for her

Savannah Marshall won again today in London, easily retaining her WBO middleweight title with a KO-3 win over late replacement opponent Maria Lindberg.

And things, of course, turned to the future, and a possible fight with Claressa Shields. If you haven’t heard the tale 17,000 times by now, Marshall (10-0, 8 KO) beat Shields (11-0, 2 KO) in the amateurs way back when, and is to date the only woman with an official win over Shields, who went on to win two Olympic gold medals and world titles in three weight classes as a pro.

“I punch too hard for Claressa Shields. I do, I punch far too hard, and she doesn’t want to know. She’d much rather roll about in the Octagon, she’d much rather call out Katie Taylor, who’s four weight classes below her. She doesn’t want to know,” Marshall said after the win.

“I’m not going wait about forever for her. I’d like to get out again this summer, get another title. The IBF’s vacant at my weight. If not, I’d like to go back up to super middle, get one of the titles off the girls up there. And then, if Claressa gets some guts, a big showdown at the end of the year.”

Shields, of course, was quick to respond on Twitter when Eddie Hearn brought it up:

On TV, Hearn said he feels they’re “making good progress” on actually putting Shields-Marshall together.

“I’ve had a number of calls with (Shields’ team). They know how dangerous the fight is. They want a load of money and I’m prepared to pay a load of money, because I think it’s a tremendous fight. And I’ll back (Marshall) every day of the week,” he said.

“I love Claressa Shields, I think she’s great. I think she’s done such a great job for women’s boxing. There is no way she goes 10 rounds with Savannah Marshall. Savannah Marshall is the only girl to beat Claressa Shields in her entire life. She beat her in the amateurs, she will beat her in the professionals. And I rate (Shields)! I think she’s tremendous, I think she’s a pound-for-pound top three. But she cannot — she’s wide open, she can’t stand up to her power. (Marshall) is the hardest pound-for-pound puncher in (women’s) boxing, unquestionably, and she’s doing it not even going through the gears. It’s so natural.”

Hearn added that it’s not about “calling out” Shields, because they want to get the fight made. He believes it’s the “ultimate fight” for both, and there’s really no argument on that — there is nothing close to as big for either of them in boxing.