The Femke Hermans vs. Savannah Marshall match will happen on Saturday, April 2. The match will be for the WBO women's middleweight championship belt. Savannah Marshall gets back to Newcastle, where she will safeguard the WBO women's middleweight belt against Femke Hermans from Belgium. The Femke Hermans vs. Savannah Marshall match will happen at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle. The previous match with Marshall was half a year ago. She got a stoppage victory against Lolita Muzeya in the initial rounds of that match. It was her sixth consecutive stoppage victory. Hermans is also making a comeback in this match after a stoppage victory against Lili Jumali in the starting rounds nearly a year ago. It is important that Marshall gets the victory against Hermans in order to set up a probable undisputed championship match with Claressa Shields in the near future.
The match will be broadcasted in the United Kingdom through Sky Sports. The broadcaster for the United States has not been announced yet. The match has gained importance because it can lead to a clash between Marshall and Shields later this year. Marshall seemed more concerned with her future rival than her present one. Marshall said regarding Shields, "You can't come over, burn everyone's skull out all week calling yourself the greatest, slander me in interviews and on Twitter and then when it comes to it, give me a fist-pump after performing like that. Somebody had to tell her she really underperformed. You can't call yourself the greatest and then go 10 rounds with somebody fresh out of the womb. Taking nothing away from Ema, she's a tough girl, and I'm sure she'll mature and come back stronger in time. But from rounds seven to 10, Ema didn't throw a punch. The best thing about it is she stood in front of Claressa and subjected all the people in Cardiff to 10 rounds of a bore-fest.”
“It's the last thing you want after you retain your titles. Somebody said you're an embarrassment, so I definitely spoilt her night."
Marshall has kept the WBO championship belt since winning against Hannah Rankin nearly two years ago. Marshall was successful in defeating Rankin in the middle rounds of that match. Early last year, she was successful in keeping the belt against Maria Lindberg. She knocked out the latter in the initial rounds. Sometime after that, she defeated Lolita Muzeya in the starting rounds. This was her sixth consecutive knockout win. She has an overall undefeated record. Hermans also had a knockout win in the initial rounds against Lili Jumali last year. Her record in her professional boxing career is also an undefeated one. She will be going against a rival named the top pound-for-pound boxer in the women's boxing division. The most famous match in Hermans' career was the match against Claressa Shields in Carson, California, nearly four years ago. Hermans had great head movement and robust footwork.
But she was quickly overpowered and outboxed by Shields and lost out on that match on the judges' scorecards through a unanimous decision. Marshall is well known in boxing circles for her great punching power. In more than ten matches, she has had more than eight knockouts. But her most recent match against Maria Lindberg showed that her skillset is not about power alone. She also has good placement and timing on all her shots. This permits her to counter any major aggression well. Shields said, "I always show up and win. I hope that Marshall does her job. If that's what they're saying is the biggest women's fight because she's got some power and a little bit of height, I'm going to show them that Flint town comes to put the beatdown wherever. Yeah, she's so disrespectful. The accomplishments don't compare. I wanted to let the girl borrow a belt.”
“Why're you walking up here with no belts when I've got five, six belts? No. She doesn't even know how to be a world champion. A champion never leaves their belts at home, especially when they're about to face another world champion. But it would've looked embarrassing anyway. You show up with one belt talking stuff, no Olympic gold medals, one weight class, one belt. Please, quit playing with me. I don't even play like that. But talking about wiping the floor and this and that – I haven't been impressed with any of Savannah Marshall's fights. She's fighting 147 pounders and knocking them out, and they're getting a week's notice. When you fight against the top, the girls just don't lay down. I'm sorry, they don't. Oh yeah [a fight with Marshall is what I want next]. See, this is the [WBO middleweight] belt she fought for that was vacant because it was mine."
Hermans has placed a challenge before the undefeated champ in her native nation. But she will need to win by a wide margin to snatch the match and take the championship belt. But Marshall is one of the top rivals she has gone against since she faced Shields. In the match between Hermans and Shields, the former was kept on the backfoot the entire match. She was caught unaware of several jabs that went through an open guard. She was also quite vulnerable to the hooks to the body that Shields made with both her hands. Hermans wore her rival Jumali down using a high guard in her most recent match. Marshall has a height advantage of more than two inches over Hermans. So, she will be able to take control of the range of the match with great counter punching. Hermans will be required to get inside the range of Marshall with a tight guard to land the punches and not take the heavy blows. Marshall will probably control the match and get a victory through knockout if she can place her shots between the guard of Hermans and maintain a proper distance from her.
Marshall is most likely to go against Claressa Shields later this year if she wins against Hermans in the Femke Hermans vs. Savannah Marshall match. Shields said, "This is my belt. So, Savannah Marshall is not even considered a champion to me. I win, she wins her next fight, me and her scrap together next, that's what the plan is. She can say whatever she wants. I'm a three-time division world champion. She's a one-time belt holder, only in one weight class, and this fight is so huge because of me. Two Olympic gold medals compared to zero is a big deal. I mean, she's 21-0, 11 knockouts, she's a worthy opponent and has worked her way to the top, but there are levels. I watched her in the amateurs, and I saw her in the pros. She's a big tough girl, but she's going to get beat up. I won the Olympics here [London]. I don't worry about upsets. I've been in plenty of countries and beat whoever they had there. It doesn't matter where we fight. I can fight in any country.”
“The pressure doesn't bother me, the boos don't bother me, the cheers don't bother me. I come out here to show my skills, defend my titles, and bring it back home to the USA."
1. Nationality: Great Britain
2. Date of Birth: May 19, 1991
3. Height: 5' 11.5"
4. Reach: N/A
5. Total Fights: 11
6. Record: 11-0 (9 KOs)
1. Nationality: Belgium
2. Date of Birth: February 5, 1990
3. Height: 5' 8"
4. Reach: N/A
5. Total Fights: 15
6. Record: 12-3 (5 KOs)
1. Savannah Marshall vs. Femke Hermans; WBO women's middleweight title
2. Florian Marku vs. Chris Jenkins; Welterweight
3. Nathan Gorman vs. Scott Alexander; Heavyweight
4. Bradley Rea vs. Lukas Ndafoluma; Middleweight
5. April Hunter vs. Ester Konecna; Women's super welterweight
6. Zak Chelli vs. Tomas Adamek; Super middleweight
7. Michael Webster vs. TBA; Cruiserweight
8. Matty Harris vs. Phil Williams; Heavyweight
9. Hosea Stewart vs. Mait Metsis; Heavyweight
10. Lukas Cope vs. Lee Connelly; Super lightweight
11. Chloe Watson vs. Gemma Ruegg; Women's super flyweight
12. Georgia O'Connor vs. Erica Juana Gabriela Alvarez; Women's super welterweight