Savannah Marshall has been handed a change of opponent for her first fight on UK soil since 2015.
The 2012 world champion will face Ester Konecna over eight rounds at Bolton on Saturday night.
This middleweight battle provides one of the chief support bouts to the Hennessy Sport-promoted British heavyweight title showdown between Sam Sexton and Hughie Fury, which will be shown live on Channel 5.
Konecna comes in as a substitute opponent for the unbeaten Finn, Sanna Turunen, who pulled out of the bout.
The 30-year-old, from the Czech Republic, will be fighting for the third time in the UK, having lost on points to Stacey Copeland in Manchester, and Hannah Rankin in London, both late last year.
But it is the Hartlepool girl’s first home appearance since winning the Great Britain amateur title in November 2015, and only her second contest since her controversial quarter-final defeat at the Rio Olympics in 2016, when she lost to silver medalist Nouchka Fontijn.
She made her pro debut last August, when she produced a dominant display in Las Vegas, where she outpointed Sydney LeBlanc over four rounds.
“It’s been a long time since I boxed, so I can’t wait for Saturday night,” said Marshall who has been training under the watchful eye of Peter Fury in Bolton, alongside Hughie Fury and Peter McDonagh.
“The camp has gone well and I’m looking to take what I’ve done in training into the ring.”
Given Channel 5 are screening the event live from 9pm (the undercard will also be on free-to-air TV on sister station 5Spike from 7.30pm) it is a wonderful opportunity for Marshall to entertain the nation.
“It will be fantastic to be on Channel 5,” said the former Headland ABC star pictured above with heavyweight stars Sexton (left) and Fury.
“It’s great to be boxing in the UK again and even better that people can watch it on regular TV.”
Marshall was the third of the Britain’s female Olympic boxing squad to go pro, following the debuts of Nicola Adams and Natasha Jonas, while another of her Team GB colleagues, Chantelle Cameron, has also left the amateurs to join the paid ranks.
The 2014 Commonwealth Games hopes that she can “inspire” a new generation of young girls to take up the sport.
Marshall said, “Boxing is a great sport to be involved and even if you’re not going to go on and box amateur or pro, you will get super fit, gain more confidence and learn a bit of self-defence.
“I hope that young girls watching me will get inspired to get themselves down the boxing gym and give it a try, who knows, one of those girls could up end world champion one day.”
Words: Roy Kelly
