Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall: Rivals face off on a boat down the River Thames

Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall engaged in a frosty staredown in the shadow of Tower Bridge as the two middleweight rivals met for the first time ahead of their undisputed clash on board a boat down the River Thames.

Tensions threatened to erupt as both teams hurled insults at each other after the pair shared an intense face-off but fortunately for everyone on board it didn’t amount to anything more than that.

Joining the two on deck were Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner in the chief support act as well as some of the other fighters from the stacked all-female undercard, including Lauren Price, Karriss Artingstall, Caroline Dubois, April Hunter, Georgia O’Connor and Ebonie Jones.

Shields, 27, has vowed to end Marshall’s reign as WBO middleweight champion after losing to her in the amateurs.

The unified 160lbs champion will bid to become the undisputed ruler of the division in a few days’ time at London’s iconic O2 Arena on Saturday night.

The American is looking to add the WBO strap to her WBA, WBC, IBF and The Ring belts when she pits her wits against her British rival.

She said: “I’ve always said that women’s boxing can sell and that I was the one.

ALL THE INFO: Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall: Everything we know so far

“It’s nearly sold out, there will be nearly 20,000 fans in the O2 Arena and I’ve been training my butt off.

“I want all the smoke and when I leave the ring on Saturday night, Savannah Marshall will be silenced and I will be the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.”

Meanwhile Marshall, Hartlepool’s very own ‘Queen of the North’, refused to be drawn on Shields’ comments after her rival threatened to silence her once and for all.

However she did add that she had better be