Savannah Marshall blasts Shields: You can't call yourself 'The Greatest' if you can't perform

Savannah Marshall believes Claressa Shields lacks the power to label herself ‘The Greatest Woman of All-Time.’

Newcastle, England’s Marshall (11-0, 9 KOs), who holds the WBO women’s title and handed Shields the only loss of her 87-bout amateur career, will return to the ring Saturday night against Belgium’s Femke Hermans in a scheduled 10-rounder at Newcastle Arena in her hometown. A victory would likely secure a long-anticipated showdown with Shields, given the two prizefighters both inked a deal with Sky Sports a year ago.

It’s safe to say Marshall and Shields won’t be inviting one another to any Christmas dinners anytime soon. In February, both fighters confronted one another following Shields’ one-sided win over Ema Kozin at Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales. During the Sky broadcast, Marshall pretended to fall asleep when she realized the cameras were on before letting out a smile.

Although Shields is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and a three-division world champion, the unbeaten American has only produced two knockouts out of her 12 victories, including one knockdown, which is a crucial component behind Marshall’s criticism of Shields’ proclamation as ‘GWOAT.’

“Like I said, you can’t put that you’re the greatest, [that] you’re going to do this, you’re going to do that and then just not perform in that sense, can you really?” Marshall stated via BBC 5 Live Boxing. “Not taking that away from her. She’s a brilliant fighter; she’s never been beat. But you can’t say that you’re gonna do this and that and not do that really.”

Marshall also shed light on their altercation from February.

“A lot of it stemmed from standard Claressa’s talk,” Marshall said. “[She] would [insult] me on Twitter and in press conferences and interviews, then when [we encountered each other in person], she wanted a hug and fist bump, and I was like no, it doesn’t work like that. It wasn’t just that.

“All week, she was saying she was gonna knock us…out, do this and do that. Ramming and ramming ‘She’s the GWOAT’ down everyone’s throat all week.”

However, Marshall must first defeat Belgium’s Femke Hermans (12-3, 5 KOs), who Shields outpointed in a three-belt middleweight title unification in December 2018.

“It’s all off me on Saturday night,” Marshall said. “So obviously, I gotta get past Hermans. Then it’s basically a done deal. It’s all on me on Saturday.”