Savannah Marshall braced for Crews-Dezurn, believes Claressa Shields will avoid rematch

Any fighter suffering their first professional defeat is going to be deflated and that was definitely the case for Savannah Marshall, who dropped a 10-round unanimous decision to pound-for-pound queen Claressa Shields in London last October.

That matchup was 10 years in the making. Marshall is the only fighter to have handed the legendary American a loss, in a 2012 amateur competition, and the "G.W.O.A.T" had pledged revenge ever since. On fight night, Shields’ quick hands and skill trumped Marshall’s hard-hitting attack and she left the ring with the British star’s WBO middleweight belt and recognition as undisputed champion.

However, following a period of convalescing, opportunity soon came knocking for Marshall, who is now set to face undisputed super middleweight champ Franchon Crews-Dezurn at the Manchester Arena on July 1.

MORE: All you need to know about Crews-Dezurn vs. Marshall

Despite this being Marshall’s 168-pound debut, she’s been installed as favourite to hand Crews-Dezurn her second defeat. "The Hard-Hitting Diva" was outpointed by Shields when both women made their professional debuts in November 2016 and she's won eight fights since.

While Marshall acknowledged that she was "a little bit" surprised by the pre-fight odds, the ex-champ was able to justify them.

"She’s more natural at the weight, and she’s fought everyone put in front of her at this weight," said Marshall in a recent interview with The Sporting News. "It’s probably down to my knockout ratio. We have a few common opponents and I’ve knocked them out and she hasn’t.

"Taking nothing away from her, I do think she’s tough. In her last fight against Elin Cederroos (UD 10), that’s the best I’ve ever seen her box, and Elin herself is a big puncher. [Crews-Dezurn] has definitely got the chin. I think she’ll come flying at me. She’s quite dirty and rough. I think she’ll try to manhandle me, so to speak. Her offense is her defense, so she’s there to be hit. After a couple of rounds, especially when I catch her clean, she’ll go on the back foot."

It's standard for a recently deposed champion to bounce back with a confidence-building tune-up. Marshall, however, was delighted to come back at the top level, with a chance to make history.

"I was offered a buildup fight, but I’m 32 now and I haven’t got the time to be doing eight rounders and six rounders," said 'The Silent Assassin'. "And the thing is, at these higher weights there’s nobody there. There are two or three [fighters] that are world level, then the gap is massive. It was a case of, 'Okay can I really get up for an eight-rounder against someone that I know I’m gonna walk through?

"The option was there to fight Franchon. She called me out, she wanted that fight, so it was an easy fight to make."

MORE: Complete list of fights on Crews-Dezurn vs Marshall undercard

As is the case with undisputed featherweight champion Amanda Serrano, the 32-year-old Marshall is known as an authentic knockout artist.

Was she surprised that Crews-Dezurn issued the challenge?

"No because she’s getting a payday," said Marshall after a moment’s deliberation. "She has mandatories that I know she doesn’t want to fight, and she wouldn’t get paid as much as she’s getting to fight me.

"She’s quite smart in that aspect, that she’s held on to make this fight with me. It’s what she wants. She wants the platform, she wants the limelight, she wants all this."

Should Marshall prevail, the obvious fight to make would be a rematch with Shields. The first fight was a thrilling encounter and a sequel is an easy sell on both sides of the pond. While Shields would have the chance to become a three-weight undisputed champion, Marshall would have the opportunity to gain revenge.

"I think the tactics were wrong. I definitely fought Claressa’s fight and I didn’t think she’d be as tough as she was. She was a lot tougher than I expected," said Marshall when asked about fight one.

"I believe that I can outbox Claressa, but I personally don’t think she’ll give me the fight. When you’re in there, there's only you and the opponent who know, and she knows that was a hard fight. She knows I hurt her, she knows she was pushed all the way, and I don’t think she’ll want to go through that again. We were due to have a rematch straight away and she majorly priced herself out of the fight. No, I don’t think she’ll give me it. Fair play if she does, but I don’t think she will. Like I said, she could have had the rematch straight after and the vibes I was getting was that she wasn’t interested.”

If Marshall wins on Saturday night and leaves the ring with a treasure trove of super middleweight hardware, will Shields be able to resist it?