Savannah Rose Marshall (born 19 May 1991) is a British professional boxer and professional mixed martial artist. She has held world championships in two weight classes: the undisputed[a] and Ring magazine female super-middleweight title since 2023; and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) female middleweight title from 2020 to 2022. As an amateur, she became the first British female world champion after securing gold at the 2012 World Championships.[2]

Savannah Marshall
Born (1991-05-19) 19 May 1991 (age 33)
Hartlepool, England
Other namesSilent Assassin
Statistics
Weight(s)
Height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[1]
Reach72 in (183 cm)[1]
Boxing record
Total fights14
Wins13
Wins by KO10
Losses1
Medal record
Women's amateur boxing
Representing  Great Britain
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2016 Astana Middleweight
Representing  England
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2012 Qinhuangdao Middleweight
Silver medal – second place 2010 Bridgetown Welterweight
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2011 Rotterdam Middleweight
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow Middleweight

Early life

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Marshall is from Hartlepool in the North East of England. She attended the English Martyrs School,[3] where she achieved 12 GCSEs before gaining a Distinction in a BTEC National Diploma in Sport at Hartlepool College.[4][5]

She began boxing aged 12,[6] when she joined a local Hartlepool Headland club after seeing a boy showing off his trophy on the street and decided she wanted one. She went to her local boxing club with two of her girl friends however her friends only went once and decided not to go back. The club had no girls training at this time and had constantly tried to discourage Marshall. She stated that she thinks the trainer looked at her as 'an annoying little girl who kept on coming back' but she was determined, having fallen in love with the sport. They learned to accept her and began to support her.

She sparred with the boys at her club. However, when going to other gyms to get sparring partners, it was a struggle. A head trainer of one gym pointed at Savannah and said "what's that? She is not sparring here" and Savannah had to sit and watch the session.[4]

Amateur boxing career

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Marshall became the first British female world champion by winning gold at the 2012 World Championships in Qinhuangdao, China.[2]

She was considered a favourite to win gold at the 2012 London Olympics.[7] However, she was defeated 16–12 by Marina Volnova of Kazakhstan in her opening, quarter-final.[8]

Marshall remains the only boxer ever to have defeated Claressa Shields, the middleweight women's gold medallist in the 2012 Olympics; the bout took place in the second round of the 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Qinhuangdao.[9]

At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Marshall beat Ariane Fortin of Canada to take the gold medal in the women's middleweight division.[10]

In May 2016, Marshall qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics, after reaching the semi-finals of the 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in Kazakhstan.[11] She lost in the quarter-finals to Nouchka Fontijn from the Netherlands by split decision.[12]

Professional boxing career

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On 18 May 2017, during a press conference to promote the IBF junior-lightweight title defence of Mayweather promoted Gervonta Davis against former British champion Liam Walsh, Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced to the press that he had signed Marshall to a professional promotional contract.[13] Marshall made her professional boxing debut at super-middleweight[14] on the undercard[15] of The Money Fight,[16][17][18][19] in the professional boxing super-fight between undefeated five-division champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the former UFC Lightweight Champion and Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor. It took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada on 26 August 2017.[20][21] She defeated Sydney LeBlanc by unanimous decision 40–36 in a four-round bout.[22]

Marshall lifted the vacant WBA super-middleweight Inter-continental title in Sofia, Bulgaria, after winning all 10 rounds to claim a comfortable points victory over Yanina Orozco of Argentina.[23]

On 31 October 2020, in her ninth professional fight, Marshall became the WBO female middleweight world champion with a TKO victory over Hannah Rankin at Wembley Arena.[24]

Marshall was initially scheduled to face Claressa Shields in a title unification bout on September 10, 2022.[25] However, due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II the bout was postponed to take place on October 15, 2022.[26] Marshall lost the fight via unanimous decision with two judges scoring the fight 97–93 and one scoring it 96–94. This fight occurred at the O2 Arena and was the first-time two female boxers headlined at a major venue in the United Kingdom.[27][28] As well, the fight headlined the first all-female boxing card in the United Kingdom.[29]

Marshall challenged Franchón Crews-Dezurn for her undisputed super-middleweight world titles in the main event at the Manchester Arena on 1 July 2023 winning by majority decision.[30]

Mixed martial arts career

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Marshall made her MMA debut on 8 June 2024, stopping Mirela Vargas in the first round at PFL Europe in Newcastle on 8 June 2024.[31]

Professional boxing record

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14 fights 13 wins 1 loss
By knockout 10 0
By decision 3 1
No. Result Record Opponent Type Round, time Date Location Notes
14 Win 13–1 Franchón Crews-Dezurn MD 10 1 July 2023 AO Arena, Manchester, England Won WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring female super-middleweight titles
13 Loss 12–1 Claressa Shields UD 10 15 Oct 2022 The O2 Arena, London, England Lost WBO female middleweight title;
For WBA, WBC, IBF, WBF, and The Ring female middleweight titles
12 Win 12–0 Femke Hermans KO 3 (10), 2:59 2 Apr 2022 Vertu Motors Arena, Newcastle, England Retained WBO female middleweight title
11 Win 11–0 Lolita Muzeya TKO 2 (10), 1:58 16 Oct 2021 Utilita Arena, Newcastle, England Retained WBO female middleweight title
10 Win 10–0 Maria Lindberg KO 3 (10), 1:11 10 Apr 2021 Copper Box Arena, London, England Retained WBO female middleweight title
9 Win 9–0 Hannah Rankin TKO 7 (10), 1:59 31 Oct 2020 The SSE Arena, London, England Won vacant WBO female middleweight title
8 Win 8–0 Ashleigh Curry TKO 3 (10), 0:47 19 Oct 2019 Utilita Arena, Newcastle, England
7 Win 7–0 Daniele Bastieri TKO 5 (8), 2:00 31 Aug 2019 The O2 Arena, London, England
6 Win 6–0 Borislava Goranova KO 1 (6), 1:11 25 May 2019 O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester, England
5 Win 5–0 Klaudia Vígh TKO 2 (6), 1:05 9 Nov 2018 O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester, England
4 Win 4–0 Yanina Orozco UD 10 27 Oct 2018 Arena Armeec, Sofia, Bulgaria Won vacant WBA Inter-Continental super-middleweight title
3 Win 3–0 Alejandra Ayala TKO 2 (6), 1:58 15 Jun 2018 York Hall, London, England
2 Win 2–0 Ester Konecna TKO 2 (8), 1:43 12 May 2018 Whites Hotel, Bolton, England
1 Win 1–0 Sydney LeBlanc UD 4 26 Aug 2017 T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, Nevada, US

Mixed martial arts record

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Professional record breakdown
1 match 1 win 0 losses
By knockout 1 0
Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Win 1–0 Mirela Vargas TKO (punches) PFL Europe 2 (2024) June 8, 2024 1 4:27 Newcastle, England Catchweight (160 lb) debut.

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ a b Hogman, Cameron (1 July 2023). "Savannah Marshall missing life as world champion as she plots bullish response against Franchon Crews-Dezurn". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b Savannah Marshall wins Britain's first ever women's boxing world title.The Guardian, 2012.
  3. ^ Scott Wilson.Shy Savannah's rise to the Olympics.The Northern Echo, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Savannah Marshall Biography.teamgb.com, 2012.
  5. ^ "FE students add to Team GB Olympic medal haul". FE Week. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  6. ^ Savannah Marshall wins World Championships gold in China.BBC Sport, 2012.
  7. ^ "SAVANNAH MARSHALL IS GOING FOR GOLD IN 2012". 24 May 2012.
  8. ^ "GB boxer Marshall in shock upset". BBC Sport.
  9. ^ Woodyard, Eric. "First amateur loss frustrates Flint boxer Claressa Shields, she expected a victory." Flint Journal, May 15, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  10. ^ "Savannah Marshall". Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  11. ^ "Savannah Marshall qualifies for Rio Olympics after making World Championship semi-finals". Sky Sports. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  12. ^ "Rio Olympics 2016: Nouchka Fontijn beats Savannah Marshall to semi-final spot". BBC Sport. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  13. ^ Gadd, Mick (18 May 2017). "Floyd Mayweather signs British former world amateur champion". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  14. ^ "BoxRec: Event". boxrec.com. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  15. ^ "Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor fight undercard: What we know so far". standard.co.uk. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
  16. ^ "Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather: THE MONEY FIGHT PREVIEW". Fox Sports.
  17. ^ Conor McGregor reportedly knocked out in sparring for Money Fight forbes.com 2017/07/17
  18. ^ Money Fight world tour circus begins mmajunkie.com 2017/07
  19. ^ McGregor, Mayweather v (31 January 2017). "Floyd Mayweather v Conor McGregor – The Money Fight". WBN — World Boxing News. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  20. ^ "Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight finalized for Aug. 26". 14 June 2017.
  21. ^ "Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor megafight finalized for Aug. 26". ESPN. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  22. ^ "Marshall kicks off Mayweather vs McGregor undercard with debut win". Independent.co.uk. 27 August 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  23. ^ "Savannah Marshall sets her sights on a world title shot after winning her first professional belt". Hartlepool Mail. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  24. ^ "Superb Marshall beats Rankin to win WBO title". BBC Sport.
  25. ^ Jesús Milano (5 July 2022). "Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall will face on Sept. 10". wbaboxing.com.
  26. ^ Danny Segura (20 September 2022). "Claressa Shields' boxing return rescheduled for Oct. 15 after postponement due to passing of Queen Elizabeth II". MMAjunkie.com.
  27. ^ "Claressa Shields beats Savannah Marshall by unanimous decision in undisputed middleweight title fight". Sky Sports. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  28. ^ "Sensational Shields beats Marshall in epic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  29. ^ "Savannah Marshall loses grudge match against Claressa Shields in fierce battle". ITV News. 16 October 2022.
  30. ^ "Savannah Marshall: Briton beats Franchon Crews-Dezurn to win undisputed super-middleweight title". BBC Sport. July 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  31. ^ "Marshall stops Vargas in MMA debut". BBC Sport. 8 June 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
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Sporting positions
Regional boxing titles
Inaugural champion WBA Inter-Continental
female super-middleweight champion

27 October 2018 – 2019
Vacant
World boxing titles
Vacant
Title last held by
Claressa Shields
WBO
female middleweight champion

31 October 2020 – 15 October 2022
Succeeded by
Claressa Shields
Preceded by WBA
female super middleweight champion

1 July 2023 – present
Incumbent
WBC
female super middleweight champion

1 July 2023 – 5 October 2023
Status changed
Vacant
Title next held by
Franchón Crews-Dezurn
IBF
female super middleweight champion

1 July 2023 – present
Incumbent
WBO
female super middleweight champion

1 July 2023 – present
The Ring
female super middleweight champion

1 July 2023 – present
Undisputed
female super middleweight champion

1 July 2023 – 5 October 2023
Titles fragmented
Vacant
Honorary boxing titles
New title WBC female super middleweight
Champion in Recess

5 October 2023 – present
Incumbent