Savannah Marshall has clinched her first professional prize and surely there will be many more to come.
The Hartlepool fighter tonight beat Yanina Orozco in the battle of the undefeated super-middleweights to lift the vacant WBA Inter-continental title in Sofia.
Marshall won on all the judges scorecards after 10 rounds against her rival from Argentina on the undercard of the Kubrat Pulev v Hughie Fury IBF World heavyweight title eliminator.
The 27-year-old felled Orozco in the second round and hurt her again in the last but Yanina made it trough to the final bell with Savannah taking a unanimous decision in the Bulgarian capital.
“She was really strong,” said Marshall. “I think she caught me with a couple of shots in the first round.
“I caught her in the second round and she went down and got back up and after that she was on the back foot with me hunting her.
“She was a strong girl, I hit her with everything and she kept going.
I did the full 10, could have done 12, I’m happy with it and I’ve now got a belt.
“It’s brilliant all the hard work has paid off.”
In the main event in the Arena Armeec, Marshall’s team-mate Hughie Fury was beaten in his IBF Eliminator with Pulev.
The Manchester heavyweight had some joy with his right hand but the Bulgarian held the upper hand and got the nod on the scorecards of the American, Canadian and French judges, 117-111, 118-110, 115-113.
Words: Roy Kelly
