Savannah Marshall’s title rival has warned the WBO middleweight champion she’ll be in big trouble if she is fixated with Claressa Shields.
When Marshall and Shields clashed in a verbal spat in Cardiff last week it whipped up even more hype for a planned summer showdown – but the ‘Silent Assassin’ must beat Femke Hermans first in Newcastle on Saturday, March 12.
And the European champion has vowed that Marshall will “pay the price” should she take her eye off the ball.
Hermans is a former WBO world title holder and has been the distance with Shields in America in an IBF and WBC showdown.
“I have watched Savannah fight as an amateur and as a pro and, of course, I’ve seen all of the media stuff between Shields and her.
“I hope for her sake there is no distraction because if she is too confident she will pay the price.
“There are no excuses in boxing.”
The Belgian, who celebrated her 32nd birthday this week, does not have an amateur pedigree but has a good professional record of 12 (5)-3 and is not short of confidence.
“I only found my way into boxing eight years ago so I know that I am not the most technical boxer but I am working on it every day,” she told punch-lines.
“I am a fighter and when my punches land she will feel them.
“It will be fire in that ring and I am coming over to take that belt back home.”
Hermans has shared the ring with the self-appointed greatest woman of all time Shields, plus top operators such as Nikki Adler, Elin Cederroos and Luiza Davydoza and has sparred with Savannah’s old amateur rival, Nouchka Fontijn.
Femke comes from a very proud sporting nation – the Belgian men’s team are the FIFA world-ranked number one football side and her country has some top boxers, such as Delfine Persoon, who had two blockbuster battles with Katie Taylor, and Francesco Patera, the fighter who ended Lewis Ritson’s unbeaten record in Newcastle
“It makes me proud that I can show myself for my country,” said Hermans.
“I have already taken the opportunity of bringing back a world title from Germany.
“But there is much more that motivates me in this sport and I know it is possible because Delfine and Francesco have proved it so many times.”
Hermans says her biggest opponent is time – she combines her boxing career with her job as a warehouse supervisor for Belgian transport company, Gilbert De Clercq.
“The only pressure that there is for me is that I have to do this beautiful sport in combination with a full-time job,” she said. “Every day I need to find the good balance between boxing-work-home.”
Words: Roy Kelly
