Savannah Marshall hopes to be boxing again as soon as next month.
The former world amateur champion won inside four minutes at Bolton on Saturday night when she showed the nation just what she could do.
While BBC1 put on hours and hours of Eurovision tedium, Savannah displayed a bit of Euro vision of her own by halting Ester Konecna, from the Czech Republic, in one-minute, 43 seconds of the second round on Channel 5.
The 30-year-old, from Ostrava, had never been stopped before but she was no match for the Hartlepool girl.
Having already knocked back Ester’s head with two jolting lefts, Marshall pressured her with some strong bodywork before a thumping left to the head prompted referee Phil Edwards to call it off.
“I had a 10-week camp so I was always confident of boxing well,” said the 26-year-old.
“But because I’ve only done two rounds after 10 weeks in training I want to be back out again, straight away.
“Having gone from August until now for a fight has been too long, I want to be busy.
“I want to get out again in June if that’s possible. “
But what about THAT fight with Claressa Shields? A showdown which could be the greatest ever in female boxing history.
“Claressa said ‘see you at the top sweetheart’ or something like that the other week, but I think she might have been sarcastic!” smiled Marshall, the only boxer to have beaten ‘T Rex’.
“She’s been calling me out already but I’ve only boxed six rounds!”
Building her experience will be key and Marshall will do that under coach Peter Fury.
The trainer (and dad) of new British heavyweight champ Hughie Fury and ex-coach (and uncle) of Tyson was in Savannah’s corner on Saturday night at the Hennessy Sports-promoted event.
“I was very pleased with the performance and win,” added Marshall. “ Ester had never been stopped before.
“After the first round, Peter had said I was rushing it a bit and falling in and the second round went so smoothly.
“I was catching her and I could feel the my shots were hurting her and the stoppage came.
“When we’d watched previous fights she’d been a bit of a nightmare to her opponents but I listened to Peter and never gave her any room and was always on top of her.
“It was nice to get the stoppage.”
Words: Roy Kelly
