By: Sean Crose
If there was ever a notable reason to postpone a major fight, the passing of a nearly hundred year old widely beloved monarch would probably be it. In what should come as a surprise to no one, tomorrow’s Claressa Shields – Savannah Marshall fight for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world has been postponed. The Queen died yesterday at the age of 96 in Scotland. She had been England’s longest reigning monarch, having occupied the throne for 70 years. Promotional outlet Boxxer, the force behind Saturday’s scheduled matchup, released an official statement regarding the postponement on Friday.
“As a mark of respect following the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the British Boxing Board of Control has made the decision to postpone Saturday’s event BOXERR LEGACY: Shields vs Marshall,” the statement read. “Our sincere thoughts are with His Majesty King Charles III (Queen Elizabeth’s oldest son and England’s new monarch) and the Royal Family during the profoundly sombre time. We are working with all parties to provisionally reschedule for Saturday, 15th October at The O2 in London. Further updates on the new date will be made at the earliest opportunity.”
For her own part, Shields took the news respectfully. “Yeah,” she tweeted Friday morning. “I understand.” Shields had earlier stated that she would respect any decision that was made regarding Saturday’s scheduled fight. “With respect to the country,” she wrote on Twitter, “I understand that the Queen of the country passing has an entire country mourning. The government is speaking & those in higher power. Whatever the decision I’m respectful of it.”
Shields-Marshall is a highly anticipated fight not only because it will be a battle between two undefeated fighters for middleweight supremacy but also because Marshall is the only boxer on record to have defeated Shields in the ring. With that being said, the first match was an amateur event that went down about a decade ago. Since that time, Shields has risen to the top ranks of women’s boxing, and has even tried her hand at mixed martial arts. Marshall, however, has an impressive 12-0 record, identical to Shields. Unlike Shields, Marshall is also a knockout artist, having ended all but two of her fights within the distance.
As things now stand, Marshall still holds the WBO middleweight title while Shields continues to hold the WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight titles. No doubt both fighters will be eager to share the ring with one another as quickly as possible.