Saturday was a big day in boxing, with Jermell Charlo becoming undisputed king at 154 lbs, Martin Bakole upsetting Tony Yoka, Sergey Kovalev making a successful cruiserweight debut, and a 200 lb Zurdo Ramirez trampling Dominic Boesel, but it was also the anniversary of something Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields both remember well.
10 years ago yesterday, on May 14, 2012 in China, Marshall beat Shields 14-8 in the AIBA Women’s World Championships. To say it has been a sticking point between the two of them to this day is an understatement, and Marshall took the chance to troll Shields on social media:
Shields had been Tweeting for a couple days prior about how it definitely doesn’t still bother her, and then posted this on Saturday:
Yeah we gotta celebrate our only achievement you have 20 loss anniversaries Aka failed attempts compared to my 1 loss in the amateurs @Savmarshall1 and why you are tweeting… isn’t your arm supposedly broken CAUSE I’M WAITING FOR YOU TO SIGN FOR JULY YOU SCARY BITCH pic.twitter.com/2p5Nebrvt1
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) May 14, 2022
Shields also got mad at Tasha Jonas for making some comments about the comments:
She faking injured so you can definitely get smoked!!! That part! Don’t gotta dare be great when you’re already great!!!! https://t.co/EJQpWrPR2Q
— Claressa Gwoat Shields (@Claressashields) May 14, 2022
Marshall posted nothing further.
Shields hasn’t lost a fight since then, to be entirely fair to her, and did win two Olympic gold medals, to keep being fair, and in every tournament where there was a chance for Shields and Marshall to meet again, as we continue being fair, Marshall lost before she could reach a round where she might face Shields. I think this is all very fair.
Shields (12-0, 2 KO) has also had the more decorated pro career. She won belts at 168 lbs, moved down to 160 to become undisputed, moved down to 154 to become undisputed again, and is now back at 160 where she still holds the WBC, WBA, and IBF titles.
Marshall (12-0, 10 KO) has the WBO belt at 160, and Boxxer have been working on doing an undisputed fight between the two of them, which really will be a very big fight in the UK.
They’re both big personalities, both great trash talkers, have a lot of history they’ve been talking about a lot for years now, and are the very clear, completely obvious two best fighters in their weight class. Nobody else has shown to be near their level, and there aren’t really any notably interesting fights for either of them at 154 or 168, either.
The fight was originally planned for July, and is still expected to happen at some point. There is, if we’re all being very honest, nothing else that either of them can do that is remotely as interesting or will bring as big an audience.