Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall headline an all-women card at the O2 in London on Saturday (ESPN+, 2:30 p.m. ET) in a fight to crown the undisputed middleweight champion. Shields and Marshall are the best two fighters in the division — and two of the best in the entire sport — so it’s fitting they meet for all the glory.
Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs) is the only fighter, amateur or professional, to have beaten Shields (12-0, 2 KOs). Marshall outpointed Shields at the 2012 AIBA Women’s World Championships and has bragging rights going into this weekend.
In the co-main event, Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner will fight to unify three of the four major junior lightweight world titles.
Mayer (17-0, 5 KOs) is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Jennifer Han in April. Baumgardner won her title with a KO victory over Terri Harper in 2021 and made a successful defense against Edith Soledad Matthysse in April.
Former two-division champion and current ESPN boxing analyst Timothy Bradley Jr. breaks down both matchups.
Claressa Shields vs. Savannah Marshall
The big picture
Shields vs. Marshall is a tornado that’s forming in London, hot air that collides with cold, dry air. And everybody knows Shields is the hot air. She’s fearless, and is basically facing her demons in this fight. Marshall is the only person who has defeated her inside the ring. And that loss has left a sour taste for a fighter like Shields who calls herself the GWOAT (greatest woman of all time). She’s furious. She wants revenge, and is coming into the fight hot.
On the other side, we have a fighter in Marshall who is cold-hearted. She’s cold with her hands — she can punch, has power, can box, is very fluid inside the ring, and man, she can trash-talk.
I think this is going to be a huge challenge for Shields. This is going to be a battle of adjustments. Whoever can make the proper adjustments is going to win this fight. And I’m calling this a 50/50 bout because both fighters have the ability to pull off a victory.
Shields’ strengths
Shields is a flat-footed kind of fighter. She depends heavily on her reflexes and her eyes and ring IQ. She has a lightning-fast jab and pistol-like jab — which she will double-up or triple-up to close distance and land her combinations. She has a great, sneaky overhand right, and she also has a good left hook. She’s great with combinations and knows how to get in and out quickly.
One of her key strengths is her eyes. Her vision is very good — she’s great at anticipating punches, and she’s going to need to see those punches coming from Marshall because Marshall can punch with either hand.
Shields is going to have to layer her attack. Marshall is real smooth, cold, cool and collected. And she will let you come on, and because she’s so slippery in the ring she catches her opponents in between punches. Shields needs to attack and set up another layer of her attack right after it. Basically, counter the counterpuncher in order to have success.
Marshall’s strengths
Her favorite punch is the left hook. It’s dynamite. She can lead with it, or she can stand back and counter with it, too. She also has a great uppercut, and we have seen Shields dropped by an uppercut in the past (in Round 1 against Hanna Gabriels in 2018). If Shields is not moving her head she will put that high guard up, and Marshall doesn’t mind fighting against anyone who uses the high guard because she has the punches that are necessary to eliminate that high guard. That’s the hook and the uppercut right up the middle.
Marshall is a fluid fighter, and it’s what makes her special. She rolls with the punches, so to speak. She’s so smooth and so relaxed and she rolls her shoulders making herself small, even though she’s a big middleweight. She’ll make herself small, narrow her body by rolling the shoulders and switch from southpaw to orthodox seamlessly, catching opponents coming in, coming to attack.
She’s an absolute natural fighter. She reminds me of Tyson Fury as someone who moves well, is free flowing and just goes with the flow, setting the first shots, using angles and her jab to catch opponents as they come in.
How they match up
Skill for skill, I think both fighters have their strengths. Shields is going to win the speed battle, while Marshall has the power. We’ve seen fighters like Floyd Mayweather and Sugar Ray Leonard who have hand speed and ring IQ and excellent defense who have beaten guys with punching power who were technicians in the ring. They figured out how to get in, land their shots and get out avoiding getting hit. That’s what Shields is going to have to do if she wants to win this fight.
Losing a fight does a lot to you, psychologically. You know how good the other fighter is when you lose to them. You know what you are up against. There are differences now since it’s been almost 10 years since they fought — and in the pros you wear smaller gloves, no headgear — so we have to consider that. And since Marshall has already beaten Shields (even though I watched the fight and I think Shields beat her), in her head, she’ll be thinking, “I got her number, I know what she’s going to bring, I’ve seen her speed, I’ve felt her power, she’s not better than me.” So, Marshall is extremely confident that she can pull off the victory.
On the other hand, Shields has had a ton of success and is riding with it. She’s done everything at the top level, including winning two Olympic gold medals, and she’s probably saying “I’m better than you. Period.” Although, in the back of her mind, she probably knows how tough this fight is going to be. She won’t say that publicly, but she knows that mentally.
I was in a rematch with Manny Pacquiao after I beat him the first time. You have no idea how tough these fights are. But as a fighter you know exactly how difficult the fight will be, because you’ve been in there with them, felt their power, felt the speed. Marshall knows how tough Shields is, and that’s what’s going to make for a very entertaining fight, because I really think they both have to make the proper adjustments during the course of the fight.
The fight is not going to happen one way. You are going to see the same thing over and over. It’s going to be a ton of adjustments throughout the fight, and I’m interested to see how Shields is going to deal with Marshall’s hook and uppercut. Those two punches, how the hell is she going to be able to deal with those punches? How is she going to make those punches miss? How is Marshall going to deal with Shields’ speed and the combinations that come with it?
Who wins
I went back and forth with this pick and had a tough time because I see both fighters’ strengths. But after watching their amateur fight, I don’t know how Marshall is going to overcome Shields’ hand speed, quickness and pressure during the fight. I think that’s going to overcome the power and elusiveness of Marshall.
I saw Shields beating the heck out of Marshall in that first fight. Marshall had trouble dealing with the pressure, and that pressure is going to be even more immense this time. Now, Marshall can catch Shields coming in with one of those uppercuts and put her on her pants, but I’m going to go with Shields by decision. She’s going to be smart and very selective when she strikes.
Mikaela Mayer vs. Alycia Baumgardner
The big picture
This is another pure boxer vs. a boxer-puncher matchup. The boxer-puncher is Baumgardner. She has shown some good power in the past and has more knockouts, even though she has less experience. Then there’s Mayer, who has grown in every single department since turning pro. She’s a well-rounded fighter who knows how to operate at every single range.
Have you ever walked next to somebody who walks fast, and you are like, “Slow down, what’s the rush?” And they go, “What do you mean? I’m just walking.” Well, what I’m trying to say is, Mayer walks fast. She’s busy, calculated and fearless. She will throw punches in combinations and knows how to box, but she doesn’t mind mixing it up. She is constantly forcing her opponent to be defensive all the time.
Baumgardner is more relaxed. She typically fights in one or two gears; that’s it. She’s comfortable with setting traps — that’s her thing. She enjoys having her opponents walk into her punches, and I would use Harper as an example. Harper walked into the right hand that stopped her in her tracks. So, one fighter is a trap setter and the other is a much busier fighter.
“Baumgardner has power. She has heavy hands. I’ve felt it. I let her hit me with body shots. I let her hit me with a left hook to the liver and a right hand to the body during a training session. It was my decision because I wanted to feel her power. She can hit. She almost took my liver and moved it to the other side.”
Timothy Bradley Jr.
Both fighters are all about being the best. Baumgardner has been honing her skills since she was 8. She came onto the scene in a big way last year when she knocked out Harper. Mayer has become the fighter she is today over time, being challenged with different types of styles and overcoming all of them.
I think the biggest difference — or what could be a key factor — is corners. Mayer has three of the best coaches and teachers in boxing in Alfred Mitchell, Kay Koroma and Manny Robles, and those trainers have a pupil who’s able to make adjustments, who understands adjustments. It’s one thing to have great trainers, but it is another thing to have a pupil being able to do the things and adjust to the fight when you ask them to. And that’s Mayer.
Baumgardner’s strengths
Her athleticism. She has great movements, and as mentioned above, is a great trap setter. She depends heavily on her footwork and defense to be able to lay those traps. She doesn’t mind losing a few rounds to get an opponent comfortable and wait for a mistake so she can drop that right hand over the jab. That’s an automatic punch for Baumgardner. It’s a lightning-fast, perfectly timed right hand. Her anticipation for a jab coming her way is one of the best I’ve seen in all of boxing. She knows how to time the jab of her opponents, right over the top.
Baumgardner has power. She has heavy hands. I’ve felt it. I let her hit me with body shots. I let her hit me with a left hook to the liver and a right hand to the body during a training session. It was my decision because I wanted to feel her power. She almost took my liver and moved it to the other side. She’s a great athlete. Strong and mentally tough.
Mayer’s strengths
Adaptability. She’s starting to see things on her own now, without having to be coached. She makes adjustments on her own based upon what is in front of her, and that’s when you start to become a master of the craft. That’s what I’m seeing with Mayer.
She also has great speed and has shown to have a great chin — she has never been down before. She is very mentally tough, and as far as skills go, she can do it all. She can fight on the inside, dig down to the body or use her jab and fight outside to earn her way to victory. She mixes it up, throwing combinations often. She’s fearless with those combinations. There is more to Mayer than a lot people give her credit for. She uses very different tactics at the right moment in fights.
Who wins
This is another 50/50 fight for me.
When I look at Baumgardner and I look at her offense, it almost seems rehearsed. There’s offense, and then there’s a pause. I think Mayer is going to be able to pick up on that. And during those pauses, Baumgardner moves her head, but she drops her hands, and she exposes her face and her body. And I just think Mayer, with all her improvements, if she doesn’t get caught by the big shot — and trust me, Baumgardner can punch — Mayer should be able to win this fight. But that’s if Baumgardner doesn’t catch her with her power, and that’s a big if.
It’s a great fight. My pick is Mayer by unanimous decision … or Baumgardner by KO.