Clarissa Shields will once again attempt to unite all four of the women’s major middleweight titles when she faces Savannah Marshall in the women-only tag main event at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday (ESPN+, 2:30 p.m. ET). These are the first two major boxing cards on ESPN+ of the day. Devin Haney will defend his undisputed lightweight title against the man who took the belts just a few months ago, George Campos, 10:30 p.m. Eastern time.
Shields (12-0, 2 KOs), 27, of Flint, Michigan, is a former middleweight and undisputed junior middleweight champion and undisputed middleweight champion. She vacated the WBO middleweight belt to move to the junior middleweight and is now trying to reclaim the undisputed title she never lost in the ring against Marshall.
Marshall (12-0, 10 KOs), 31, of County Durham, England, defeated Hannah Rankin in October 2020 to win the WBO belt and have made three successful defenses since. Marshall is the only fighter to defeat Shields (victory on points at the 2012 World Championships in China). Shields finished her amateur career with a record 64-1 and is looking to avenge her lone loss.
Follow along as Michael Rothstein summarizes the procedure as it happens or Watch the fights on ESPN +.
Fighting in Progress: Clarissa Shields vs. Savannah Marshall, 10 rounds, for the Shields WBC, IBF, and WBA middleweight titles and the Marshall WBO middleweight title
Shields-Marshall Analysis Round by Round:
Fourth round: It may have been the closest round so far and Marshall had some good offensive moments, but Shields’ ability to handle it may have given her a close run. Shields 10-9. Armor 40-37.
Third round: Aggressive strikes and anti-shield punches keep coming. Her game plan has been clear and solid so far. Marshall went down a few, but Shields again won the round – perhaps somewhat obvious here. Shields 10-9. Shields 30-27.
second round: Marshall landed with his powerful right hand early in the round, seeming to stun Shields for a second. Shields handled the first few seconds well to respond and have a better overall round. Shields 10-9. Shields 20-18.
first round: Excellent round of armor. Smart defense and aggressive attack as well. Marshall had a good end to the tour but not enough. Shields 10-9.
The fight began…
Shields wears pants and gloves in the colors of the American flag. Marshall wears white and blue pants and black gloves. It’s time for the fighters.
Now “The Star-Spangled Banner”, the national anthem of the United States.
“God Save the Queen,” the UK’s national anthem, is sung at the O2 Arena with Shields and Marshall inside the ring.
Baumgardner beats Mayer, becomes 130lb unified champ
Alicia Baumgardner has been saying for months that she would dominate Michaela Mayer. While that didn’t happen, Baumgardner did enough to become a unified junior lightweight champion.
In a fight that could have ended either way after months of trash talk between the two, Baumgardner won two of the cards, 96-95, with Mayer taking the third card, 97-93, giving Baumgardner the WBC, IBF and WBO titles.
It started slow for Meyer, who held the IBF and WBO titles, with Baumgardner (13-1, 7 KO) clearly controlling in the first rounds of the fight. Meyer settled into the fourth round and rebounded, but nearly every round in the back half of the fight was incredibly close.
“I worked to get here,” Baumgardner said in the broadcast after the fight.
It capped 12 life-changing months for Baumgardner, who rose to the high-profile scene by ousting Terri Harper on November 13, 2021 to win the WBC title. It also started back and forth with Meyer. After defeating Edith Soledad Matisse in April, Baumgardner agreed to fight Mayer in May.
And on Saturday, she put herself in the conversation of the best fighters in the sport.
After the scorecards were announced, Meyer threw her hands up and left, clearly unhappy with the decision in a fight that was incredibly close.
Mayer (17-1, 5 KO) won the middle rounds of the fight as both the final rounds were extremely difficult to score.
“I think I got the cleanest shots,” Baumgardner said. The hardest shots.
In one of the most pivotal moments in the fight, Baumgardner cut Mayer on the right eye in the seventh round after what looked like three straight rounds Mayer was the aggressor to return to the fight.
Baumgardner dropped 116 from 335 punches (34.6 percent) with Mayer down 104 from 361 (28.8 percent). Meyer took a higher hit rate (26.6 percent to 26 percent) while also throwing 98 more hits than Baumgardner (229 to 131). Meyer landed 61 hits, Baumgardner 34.
Baumgardner, an electric drill, tried more powerful shots—40.2 percent versus Mayer’s 32.6 percent—and landed 82 of 204 electric punches. Meyer landed 43 out of 132 electric punches. The powerful punches thrown and landed were a career high for Baumgardner. Meyer’s powerful 43 punches landed the eight in the sixth round being the most landed against Baumgardner in her career.
After the fight, Baumgardner said she would not receive a rematch immediately, but rather would pursue the undisputed title. WBA champion Hyun-Mi Choi holds the other belt in the division.
Mayer-Baumgardner Comprehensive Analysis:
Tenth round: Michaela Meyer was a little stronger again in this round, the last round. A close round than what was a close fight, but it goes to Meyer, who seemed to be a little more connected and was a little more aggressive. Mayer 10-9. Draw 95-95.
Round 9: Surprise, close round. Michaela Meyer worked well on her jab to punch stronger, enough to win the round. Mayer 10-9. Baumgardner 86-85.
Eighth round: Another round closer, but Baumgardner was a little more aggressive and had more moments of round control. Baumgardner 10-9. Baumgardner 77-75.
Round 7: Alycia Baumgardner with her best run since round three, cracking Mikaela Mayer’s eye and landing way more punches this round. Baumgardner 10-9. Baumgardner 67-66.
Round 6: The round was a lot closer but Michaela Meyer was still the most aggressive fighter who had the strongest round. Mayer 10-9. 57-57.
Fifth round: She landed another fierce round with more punches for Michaela Meyer, which seemed to change what her initial strategy had been. Meyer’s smart tour. Mayer 10-9. Baumgardner 48-47.
Fourth round: Meyer was really pushing forward for the first time in the fight and he fired a few powerful punches, enough to win the round. A late right hand stamped it in Mayer’s favour. Mayer 10-9. Baumgardner 39-38.
Third round: By far Mayer’s best tour so far, but Baumgardner coped well. A close round, but another Baumgardner round. Baumgardner 10-9. Baumgardner 30-27.
second round: Baumgardner again landed more and better shots from Meyer, timing what Meyer is trying to do. Baumgardner 10-9, Baumgardner 20-18.
first round: Baumgardner was a bit more aggressive this round – slow for both fighters – and probably landed his best punch of the round. Baumgardner 10-9.
Other results:
Lights the price, stops Belek inside four rounds
Lauren Price didn’t knock Timea Bellic. But she continued to hit her with enough consistency for referee Mark Bates to stop a welterweight fight.
In what seemed like an early end to the fight, Price (2-0, 1 KO) took her first career stoppage win in the fourth round after several shots that kept Belik (6-7, 2 KO) moving. backwards.
Bryce and Bellick exchanged blows throughout the second round, the most back-and-forth move of any televised bottom card fight. Price got a good head start on Bellick at the start of the third round – Price connected a lot, but Bellick wasn’t moving much to be a hard target. By the end of the round, Bryce began chasing Bellick around the ring, hitting her.
Bilyk has lost three of her last four matches. The 28-year-old Price, middleweight gold medalist at the 2020 Olympics, remains one of the most promising prospects in the welterweight division who could use an infusion of talent.
Dubois stopped Coliva in the fifth round
The end began in the fourth round, when Caroline Dubois landed with a right hook that knocked Melina Koliva to the ground.
The real end came later, when Dubois hit one of the dead bodies to shock Coleva again and then put half of it on the ropes, with Dubois sending more shots to Coleva’s head while referee Sean McAvoy stepped in to stop the fight and give the ball away. Dubois is winning the lightweight fight.
The pressure was on Dubois (4-0, 3 KO) over the last three rounds leading to a knockout seven seconds early in the fifth round. Heavyweight sister Danielle Dubois’s 21-year-old continued her rapid rise with the dominance of 34-year-old Koliva (10-15-1, 4 KO), who has not won a fight since 2019 and lost nine. From her last 10 fights.
However, most of that has come against high-quality competition, including Katie Taylor and two-time Maeva Hamdoush.
This fight, and how she handled it, showed that Dubois, one of the sport’s most intriguing young fighters, must be ready to take on the competition for her next fight.
Artingstall dominates Sakharov, remains undefeated
In the past four rounds, it’s been a barrage. If we’re being honest, it was a great performance by Karis Ertingstal and a great effort by Marina Sakharov to keep the fight going in full.
A predictable featherweight, Artingstall was generally excellent in her second professional fight, clocking 60-54 decisions over Sakharov, who has now lost 10 fights in a row.
Artingstall (2-0) dominated the fight in the third round, landing a set of combos, and from there the match wasn’t really in doubt. By the end of the third inning, Sakharov (5-17-2, 3 KO) looked exhausted but continued to hold on throughout the six battle.
Sakharov has not won a fight since 2018, when she ousted Branka Arambasic.
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