SAVANNAH MARSHALL reckons she might have to finally get a real job after she dethrones Claressa Shields.
Hartlepool ace Marshall, 30, will confirm a summer showdown with the self-proclaimed Greatest Woman Of All Time if she comes through a routine defence of her WBO middleweight title against Femke Hermans tonight.
Savannah Marshall is hoping to face Claressa Shields – but must beat Femke Hermans first
Shields, 27, is a two-time Olympic middleweight champion and three-weight world champ — but her last loss came in 2012 against Marshall when the pair were evenly matched amateurs.
Almost all of Marshall’s 11-0 pro career has been geared towards this grudge match with the brilliant American and she admits there is little else on the horizon beyond a change in career.
The Silent Assassin said: “I did a Zoom interview once, very early in the morning, and the very first question was, ‘does Claressa Shields motivate you?’ I had just woken up and bit the bloke’s head off!
“But I understand the boxing business and, as a woman in one of the higher weight classes, there is no bigger fight out there for me.
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“Look at the lower weights now for the British girls, there is lots of competition and options, it’s not been like that for me and it’s not going to change.
“There’s only really the Claressa Shields fight there for me, so I am going to ride it to the end.
“Because once it’s done I will wonder where there is to go next?
“I have boxed since I was 11, full-time since I was 17, so maybe it will be time to get a proper job – finally.”
Modest Marshall struggled with the attention and expectation around the 2012 and 2016 Games and almost quit before she really got started.
But since teaming up with Peter Fury – the uncle who guided Tyson Fury’s early career – she has loved getting paid for punches.
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And even though she has a masterplan to get her out of the hardest training sessions, she is too driven to cheat her way to a day off.
She said: “After 2016 I was going to quit all boxing, I did not love boxing in any way, I hated it, it was getting me down.
“Once I turned pro everything became a bonus, I have exceeded everything expected of me and the nervous have been swapped for excitement.
“All the hard work now is in the gym, the hard spars. I drive there thinking ‘oh God, what is Peter going to have me doing today, Shall I just say I have had a crash!’
“But I really have never enjoyed it as much.”
