Unified WBA, WBC, IBF, WBF female middleweight world champion Claressa Shields (12-0, 2 KOs) is not a tad bit impressed by the undefeated record of her grudge rival Savannah Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs) and opines that the WBO titlist earned her impeccable record by knocking out smaller opponents.
Savannah Marshall’s been gifted a whole lot of tomato cans: Claressa Shields
Shields, a two time Olympics gold medallist and three-division champion in pro boxing, is set to take on Marshall this 10th of September at the O2 Arena in London for the undisputed female middleweight championship.
Marshall, who remains the only boxer ever to defeat the “GWOAT” in the squared circle at the 2012 World Boxing Championships, has an 83% knockout record, compared to Shields’ 17%.
Nonetheless, the American boxer rolls her eyes when her British counterpart is addressed as a ‘knockout artist’ while speaking to BoxingScene.com during an interview, Shields emphasized that Marshall has earned her record against smaller fighters who have losing records.
“It’s good matchmaking,” Shields stated, “That’s it. She’s been gifted a whole lot of tomato cans. And, I mean, I’m not wrong. If I go to [boxrec.com] and read you off her opponents’ records, you’re gonna see that, ‘OK, she knocked out this girl on three days’ notice, but look at her record. She fought her on a week’s notice. Look who she knocked out, you know, look at this girl’s record, 4-25.’ Her and April Hunter have similar opponents. How, when April Hunter is a 140-pounder? Or is she 135? How does a 168-pounder and a 175-pounder have a similar opponent with a 140-pounder? She’s knocking out smaller girls with losing records.”
“I mean, there’s somebody up on her record with like an 11-67 record, 4-25. Those are not opponents who you knock out and you say, ‘Oh, that was a tough fight. That was a hard knockout.’ It’s like, ‘No, her best knockout was against Hannah Rankin.’ And Hannah Rankin, it was a lot that played into that fight and I’m gonna hold that because when I watched the film, it all made sense. So, we’re gonna have to wait until the fight gets a little bit closer until we actually speak on it,” she added.
