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Despite losing original foe Femke Hermans to COVID protocols earlier this week, Savannah Marshall will still get to defend her WBO middleweight title this Saturday, as BoxRec #4 Maria Lindberg has stepped up on three days’ notice.
ℹ️ Update: @Savmarshall1 will now defend her WBO World Middleweight Title vs four time World Title challenger Maria Lindberg this Saturday #MarshallLindberg #BennVargas pic.twitter.com/LocLCanuEb
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) April 7, 2021
Despite a decent-looking record, the 44-year-old Lindberg (19-6-2, 10 KO) hasn’t beaten an opponent with a winning record since 2015. Her most notable bouts to date include two losses to Christina Hammer, a loss to then-unbeaten Inna Sagaydakovskaya, a loss to recent Claressa Shields victim Marie Eve Dicaire, and a loss to BoxRec #2 Ema Kozin.
Still, she’s pretty damn solid for a last-minute replacement and is actually ranked above Hermans on BoxRec, so good on Matchroom for putting this together. It does stink that we can’t see Marshall continue her attempt to knock out everyone Shields failed to finish, though.
Conor Benn takes on Samuel Vargas in the main event, while Shannon Courtenay faces Ebanie Bridges for the WBA bantamweight belt and Kash Farooq takes on Alexander Espinoza.