Savannah Marshall expects toe-to-toe clash with Crews-Dezurn

Savannah Marshall is days away from another shot at world title, this time against undisputed super middleweight champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn.

The 32-year-old Marshall (12-1, 10 KOs) is coming off her first pro loss after dropping a unanimous decision to longtime rival Claressa Shields in their undisputed 160-pound clash last October 15 at O2 Arena in London. On the other hand, crews-Dezurn (8-1, 2 KOs) suffered her lone defeat to Shields in her pro debut in November 2016.

On Saturday in Manchester, the two collide for 168-pound supremacy.

Marshall vs. Crews-Dezurn takes place this Saturday night in Manchester.

"It'll mean everything [if I win]," Marshall told Sky Sports. "The build-up with Claressa, I was so confident, I was really confident.

"I fell short and all I wanted was to become undisputed champion of the world. Look, I've got another crack at it. Sometimes people don't even get one crack but this is my second crack so I've got to leave it all in there."

Instead of working her way back up the echelon fighting lackluster opposition, Marshall has a unique opportunity at her disposal, and she is well aware of it.

"A lot of people don't understand that boxing's a business as well, and it's a dirty business. It's quite savage. But look, she's here now; she's got all the belts, and it saves me shipping about and collecting them one by one. She's brought them all for me," Marshall said.

"If I can't mix it at this level, what good am I in boxing? I have hard camps; I have hard sparring; how can I go from being a world champion to boxing eight-rounders again to boxing foreigners that have just been brought in for a loss? I'm not about that. I want to be a champion again.

"I know that there'll be points where I won't be able to keep her off with the jab. I won't be able to keep her at bay the whole fight. So there will be times in the fight where I'll have to dig deep and go toe-to-toe. She's very smart, very smart in what she does and like I said, she's physical. She'll have you on the floor; she'll rough you up. She'll punch you in the back of the head; she's that sort of fighter."

Shields, the self-proclaimed 'Greatest Woman of All-Time' has expressed interest in facing the winner of Crews-Dezurn-Marshall. Following her dominant performance over Maricela Cornejo on June 3, when asked if she was captivated by a collision, the Flint, Michigan native stated,

"Of course. I'm only interested in the best. I'll be looking at that fight."