Savannah Marshall Sends Emphatic Message to Claressa Shields With One-Punch KO of Femke Hermans

 

“Femke going to give you so much hell,” Claressa Shields screamed in Savannah Marshall’s face during the heated confrontation that occurred between the two at ringside right after Shields’ middleweight title defense against Ema Kozin back in February.  

Claressa had pitched a shutout against Femke Hermans in December 2018, easily retaining her WBC, WBA, and IBF middleweight belts in the process, and was brazenly predicting in her own unique way that her former challenger would make Marshall look like the “bum” and “cherry picker” Shields believes her to be.

One of their common opponents, Hannah Rankin, who went the distance with Shields in 2018 and was stopped by Marshall two Halloweens ago, offered her opinion on the matter in a much more contrite fashion, stating that Hermans (12-3, 5 KOs) represented a “step up” and “good test” for Marshall in her quest to topple Claressa Shields for the second time, and unify the 160-pound division while she’s at it.

Since losing back to back fights, to Shields and then Elin Cederroos in a clash for the vacant IBF super-middleweight title (Hermans’ one other career defeat came at the hands of Alicia Napoleon Espinosa for the vacant WBA super-middleweight belt in March 2018), Femke rebounded with a hat trick of victorious outings. It should be taken under consideration, however, that the combined records of these three vanquished adversaries was a highly dubious 15-63-4, with 43-year-old Bulgarian Borislava Goronova somehow accounting for an inconceivable 62 of those losses all by herself.

In the course of a very busy 2018, Hermans did outpoint Nikki Adler to claim short-term ownership of the WBO super-middleweight title now in the possession of Franchon Crews Dezurn. On Saturday evening in Newcastle, Savannah Marshall was putting her 160-pound WBO crown on the line in a long overdue bout with Hermans.

First scheduled for last April 21, Hermans contracted Covid and was replaced by Maria Lindberg on short notice. It was then marked on the calendar for December, the same night as Claressa Shields’ UK debut against Ema Kozin, as a sort of double-feature coming attraction to the inevitable Shields/Marshall grudge match. This time it was Marshall who had to bow out, due to a badly bruised hand suffered during her second-round TKO of Lolita Muzeya two months prior. A new date penciled in for last month was also scrapped when a member of Femke’s camp tested positive for Covid. Such is the way of the world these days.

Going back to where we began with Claressa Shields’ insult to Marshall using Femke as a surrogate, just how much hell exactly would Hermans give Savannah in Newcastle? The answer was, not a whole hell of a lot actually. As in not much whatsoever. 

Marshall was prepared to go for the long haul with Hermans, but she put an unexpectedly early end to what turned out to be a moderate to casual jaunt through hell. A straight right from Marshall late in the third round caused Femke to stumble backwards the full length of the ring. Savannah stalked her injured prey, now trapped helplessly in a corner, and threw another right which Hermans still had the wherewithal to slip. Just as she stood straight up again, Femke's exposed chin was clobbered by a Marshall left hook. 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was all she wrote. Hermans hit the deck and referee Howard Foster waved the fight off without a moment's hesitation or the academic formality of a ten-count over the fallen Belgian who was stopped for the first time in her career. Savannah, meanwhile, took a brief victory lap during which she pointed at Claressa Shields at ringside. “You're next, you daft cow,” she called out, laughing later that Claressa must have dropped something because she was looking down at the floor.

Moments later, however, Shields broke past the security perimeter to climb into the ring and exchange unpleasantries with her arch rival, which we all knew was coming. No one thought to enter the fray with a microphone, so their spirited back and forth was inaudible unlike the last. When asked in her dressing room what was said between the two, Savannah joked that Claressa was begging her not to knock her out like that. 

The outcome of their grudge match obviously remains to be seen, although both fighters and their many faithful fans have strong opinions on the matter one way or the other. Hopefully we don't have long to wait for the score to be settled, as negotiations have been under way for some time now to bring this feverishly anticipated bout to the UK this Summer.   

The Marshall/Hermans undercard in Newcastle featured a trio of female fights, the first of which saw flyweight Chloe Watson, a 2017 Commonwealth Youth Champion, improve her pro record to 2-0 with a four-round decision over Gemma Ruegg, who dropped to 1-3 with the loss. Similarly, Georgia O'Connor, a 22-year-old decorated amateur and current super-welterweight prospect, won her second professional prizefight by outpointing Argentina's Erica Juana Gabriela Alvarez. After losing her first pro bout to Kirstie Bayington last October, April Hunter (now 5-1) got back in the win column Saturday night with a confidence-building victory over 1-14-1 Ester Konecna in a six-round welterweight scrap.