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Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall appear to be set for their long-discussed middleweight championship.
With confirmation of their fight date—BOXXER founder and CEO Ben Shalom has indicated early September—will come random drug testing. BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the pair of unbeaten middleweights will both be tested through the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) program.
“VADA has been provided enrollment paperwork on both Ms. Shields and Mr. Marshall,” Dr. Margaret Goodman, founder, president and chairperson of VADA, confirmed to BoxingScene.com. “Fighters are not enrolled until we are given the go ahead to begin testing eligibility.”
Testing traditionally begins upon the official announcement of the fight, which will be the case in this fight.
“Ms. Marshall’s advisor indicated that they are waiting for the fight date to be scheduled,” Goodman confirmed, in response to a previous claim that both fighters—specifically Marshall—were already enrolled in the program.
Shields (12-0, 2KOs) entered a co-promotional agreement with BOXXER last fall with the sole intention of facing Marshall (12-0, 10KOs), her longtime rival dating back to their time in the amateurs. Marshall has spent the past ten ten years dining out on the claim that she is the only fighter, pro or amateur, to defeat Shields. That moment came in May 2012, when a 17-year-old Shields dropped an 18-14 decision to Marshall, who was five days from her 21st birthday at the time of their 2012 World Championships round-of-16 meeting.
England’s Marshall went on to become the 2012 World Amateur Champion, while the loss nearly cost Shields a trip to the 2012 London Olympics. Ironically, Marshall’s subsequent success in the world tournament allowed Shields to earn a spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, where she won the first of her two consecutive Gold medals—the only American boxer in history to do so in worldwide Olympic competition. The only other claimant did so when the Olympics were limited to U.S. fighters.
Their respective pro debuts coincidentally took place at the same venue, though nine months apart. Shields outpointed fellow debutante Franchon Crews-Dezurn in their November 2016 clash on the Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev I undercard at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where Marshall appeared on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s final pro fight. Marshall scored an August 2017 four-round decision over Syndey LeBlanc, whom Shields defeated two months prior.
Marshall, now 31, has since fought almost exclusively in the U.K. She achieved title status in October 2020, scoring a seventh-round knockout of Hannah Rankin to win the vacant WBO middleweight title. The belt previously belonged to Shields, who was the division’s undisputed champ following her stint as a unified super middleweight title status. Shields dropped down to junior middleweight in 2020, becoming undisputed champion in a span of two fights before returning to middleweight upon signing with BOXXER. Her U.K. debut was delayed by four months as the result of two unwelcomed postponements. A scheduled December 11 defense of her lineal/WBA/WBC/IBF middleweight titles versus Ema Kozin was scrapped when Liam Williams (shoulder) was forced to withdraw from his main event clash with Chris Eubank Jr.
The event was rescheduled for January 29 in Cardiff, then moved back one week to February 5. Shields pitched a ten-round shutout over the previously unbeaten Kozin to rack up her fourth overall middleweight title defense and ninth title fight win over three weight divisions.
Marshall did her part to preserve the grudge match with a highlight-reel, third-round knockout of Femke Hermans on April 2 in Newcastle, one of two frontrunners as the hosting city for the long-awaited head on collision.
“The fight’s got so big now that it needs an international venue,” Shalom told Sky Sports. “It will happen in the UK – all the venues want it. It’s going to be between Newcastle and London, we’ll see.”
Marshall’s win was her eighth straight inside the distance, while Shields has gone ten rounds in each of her last eight fights.
Plans to stage the fight this summer were stalled after Marshall underwent surgery to repair an injured arm. With it came the delay in both fighters being officially enrolled in VADA testing, though both can expect to soon participate in a cleaner sport upon the forthcoming fight announcement.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox