Trainer Peter Fury insists there is no danger of Savannah Marshall being distracted by a ringside Claressa Shields as she enters Saturday’s WBO middleweight title fight against Femke Hermans “hitting harder than ever”.
Marshall defends her belt and unbeaten record in front of a home crowd in Newcastle in a fight which appears the final hurdle to clear to secure a long-awaited showdown with undisputed light middleweight champion Shields.
Herman presents Marshall’s toughest test yet – the current European middleweight champion and former world champion took Shields 10 rounds in December 2018, albeit less than a month after the American beat Hannah Rankin.
Savannah Marshall and Femke Hermans took to the stage for the final time ahead of their WBO middleweight title clash.
Shields’ presence teases another fiery exchange after the pair had words following Shields’ win over Ema Kozin in Cardiff, but Fury expects Marshall to be focused on the job in hand.
“I’ve gone through it with Savannah and I’ve told her ‘you’re a world champion now, and all this comes with it, just peel the pressure off, it doesn’t matter, don’t get thinking you’ve got to overperform and impress Claressa’,” he said.
“I said ‘drown that out, you’ve got a job to do’.
“She’s super confident, she’ll go about her job, and she’ll go and dissect the opponent, that’s it.
“She’s hitting harder than ever before, she’s in fantastic shape.
“She’ll struggle to go the distance this girl, and I know she’s never been stopped.”
Marshall has been widely touted as the biggest puncher in women’s boxing, a quality Fury puts down to the Silent Assassin’s technique and timing.
Savannah Marshall is ready to defend her WBO middleweight title against Femke Hermans and won’t be distracted by Claressa Shields.
Nine of the 31-year-old’s 11 victories have arrived via stoppage, including a spectacular second-round TKO against Lolita Muzeya in the face of a blistering start from the Zambian.
“It comes over time, delivering the shot, getting the accuracy at the end of the punch, turning it at the right time, all these types of things add to the power,” explained Fury.
“She’s been working a lot on her inside game as well, not just long range, she’s phenomenal at short distance so looking forward to seeing that with Savannah as well.”
Once the unassuming and low-key enforcer of the women’s boxing scene, Marshall has embraced the recognition that has come with her ascent as one of the biggest names in her sport.
Claressa Shields said that Savannah Marshall showing up at her last fight was ‘classless’ and should show her more ‘gratitude’.
When it comes to the threat of Hermans, Fury envisions his fighter encountering few problems.
“I’m not really seeing anything strengths,” he admitted. “She’s a kickboxer and she’s still got that kickboxer style.
“She’s durable, but this is elite level. Savannah is elite level, and she’ll show it tomorrow.”
Things got heated between Florian Marku and Chris Jenkins as Marku pushed the Welshman during their face-off.
Sky Sports Boxing’s Johnny Nelson attested to Marshall’s “no-nonsense attitude” and believes anticipation surrounding a meet with Shields is being driven by external voices.
“You see where she gets it from,” he said,” alluding to the influence of Fury.
“Do what’s in front of you, don’t overcomplicate it, get the job done.
“It (the Shields fight) is a bigger deal to us than it is to Peter and Savannah because they know what they’re capable of doing.
“This is the job in hand, and then deal with your Claressas afterwards.
“How Savannah handled that press conference alone, I think she’s mature enough and smart enough to know ‘as long as I do my job, expect success’.”
Watch Savannah Marshall take on Femke Hermans live on Sky Sports from 8pm Saturday; Florian Marku is also in action against Chris Jenkins after the pair clashed at their face-off.
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