Savannah Rose Marshall (born 19 May 1991) is a British

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who held the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

female

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

title between 2020 and 2022. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, she became the first British female world champion after securing gold at the 2012 World Championships.Savannah Marshall wins Britain's first ever women's boxing world title
''The Guardian'', 2012. She has been nicknamed as the 'Silent Assassin' due to her shyness and her multiple knockout wins. As of October 2022, she is ranked as the world's second best active female middleweight by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

and by ''The Ring''.

Early life

Marshall is from

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

in the

North East of England North East England is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. The region has three current administrative levels below the region level in the region; combined authority, unitary authority ...

. She attended the English Martyrs School,Scott Wilso
Shy Savannah's rise to the Olympics
''The Northern Echo'', 2012. where she achieved 12 GCSEs before gaining a Distinction in a BTEC National Diploma in Sport at Hartlepool College.Savannah Marshall Biography
''teamgb.com'', 2012. She began boxing aged 12,Savannah Marshall wins World Championships gold in China
''BBC Sport'', 2012. 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. Savannah describes herself as very competitive and wants to win at everything and is constantly in competition with training partner

Hughie Fury Hughie Lewis Fury (born 18 September 1994) is a British professional boxer. He challenged once for the WBO heavyweight title in 2017 at 23 years old and at national level held the British heavyweight title in 2018. As an amateur he represent ...

Amateur career

Following her win in China at the

2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships The 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships was held in Qinhuangdao, China from May 9 to May 22, 2012. For the first time, this world championship served as a qualifier for the 2012 Summer Olympics. 305 boxers participated from 70 countri ...

Qinhuangdao Qinhuangdao (; ) is a port city on the coast of China in northern Hebei. It is administratively a prefecture-level city, about east of Beijing, on the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. Its population during the 2020 national ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, Marshall was a favourite to win gold at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. However, she was defeated 16–12 by

Marina Volnova Marina Ivanovna Volnova (russian: Мари́на Ива́новна Вольно́ва; born 26 July 1989 in Kyzylorda, Kzyl-Orda, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) is a Kazakhstani female amateur boxer. She won the bro ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

in her opening, quarter-final bout with many feeling the occasion and expectation was too much for her to handle at the time. Marshall remains the only boxer ever to have defeated

Claressa Shields Claressa Maria Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the undisputed female light middleweight title since March 2021 ...

, 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

.Woodyard, Eric
"First amateur loss frustrates Flint boxer Claressa Shields, she expected a victory."
Flint Journal, May 15, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012. At the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Marshall beat

Ariane Fortin Ariane Fortin (born November 20, 1984) is a Canadian southpaw amateur boxer. She is a two-time World Boxing Champion. She also won a silver medal in the middleweight category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan A ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to take the gold medal in the women's middleweight division. In May 2016, Marshall qualified for the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, after reaching the semi-finals of the

2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships The 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships was held at Astana, Kazakhstan and took place between 19 and 27 May 2016. Medal summary Medal table Medalists References External linksOfficial Website Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Professional career

Marshall has stated she went through “a dark time in 2016” when she lost after a controversial decision at the Rio Olympics. But

Floyd Mayweather Floyd may refer to: As a name * Floyd (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Floyd (surname), a list of people and fictional characters Places in the United States * Floyd, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Floyd, Iow ...

had spotted her obvious talent and was quick to sign her as a professional. On 18 May 2017, during a press conference to promote the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

junior-lightweight Super featherweight, also known as junior lightweight, is a weight division in professional boxing, contested between and . The super featherweight division was established by the New York Walker Law in 1920, although first founded by the New Yo ...

title defence of Mayweather promoted

Gervonta Davis Gervonta Davis ( ; born November 7, 1994) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA (Regular) lightweight title since 2019; the IBF super featherweight title in 2017; ...

against former

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

champion Liam Walsh,

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (''né'' Sinclair; February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer. He currently owns a team in the NASCAR Cup Series named The Money Team Racing. As a professional boxer he competed b ...

announced to the press that he had signed Marshall to a professional promotional contract. Marshall made her professional boxing debut at

super-middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

on the undercard of The Money Fight, in the

professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...

super-fight between undefeated five-division champion

and the former

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

Lightweight Champion and Featherweight Champion

Conor McGregor Conor Anthony McGregor ( ga, Conchúr Antóin Mac Gréagóir; born 14 July 1988) is an Irish professional mixed martial artist. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight and lightweight double-champion. He is the first ...

. It took place at the

T-Mobile Arena T-Mobile Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Paradise, Nevada. Opened on April 6, 2016, it is the home arena of the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). A joint venture between MGM Resorts International and Anschutz En ...

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...

on 26 August 2017. She defeated Sydney LeBlanc by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighter ...

40–36 in a four-round bout. Marshall lifted the vacant WBA super-middleweight Inter-continental title in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, after winning all 10 rounds to claim a comfortable points victory over Yanina Orozco (Argentina). A couple of weeks after her pro debut in Las Vegas, Marshall decided to split from Mayweather Promotions, however said she had left on good terms. On her return to the UK Marshall linked up with Hennessey Sport and went back to training with Peter Fury, uncle of

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the World Boxing Council, WBC title since defeating Deontay Wilder in 2020, and ''The Ring (magazine), The Ring'' ...

, who had previously trained her leading up to her first professional fight in Las Vegas. On 31 October 2020 in her 9th professional fight Marshall became the

female

champion with a TKO victory over opponent

Hannah Rankin Hannah Rankin (born 21 July 1990) is a Scottish professional boxer and bassoonist. She has held the WBA female super-welterweight title since November 2021. She has also held the IBO title in 2019 and challenged for the WBA female super-midd ...

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

. "There were times when I thought, 'When will my chance come?' But tonight it did and I grabbed it with both hands", she told Sky Sports. Marshall was initially scheduled to face

in a title unification bout on September 10, 2022. However, due to the

death of Queen Elizabeth II On 8 September 2022, at 15:10 BST, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-reigning British monarch, died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen's death wa ...

the bout was postponed to take place on October 15, 2022. Marshall lost the fight via unanimous decision with two judges scoring the fight 97–93 and one scoring it 96–94, all in favour of Shields to become the undisputed middleweight world champion. This fight occurred at

the O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

and was the first time two female boxers headlined at a major venue in the United Kingdom. As well, the fight headlined the first all-female boxing card in the United Kingdom.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Savannah 1991 births Living people English women boxers Middleweight boxers Super-middleweight boxers Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Great Britain Boxers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Sportspeople from Hartlepool People educated at English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships medalists Boxers at the 2015 European Games Commonwealth Games medallists in boxing European Games competitors for Great Britain World middleweight boxing champions World Boxing Organization champions