Marshall v Shields: A bar-raising rivalry for women’s boxing

Disrespect is respect, traded insults are unspoken compliments. A prospective jab-and-clobber, swipe-and-slalom clinic between 'I'm better than her' proclaimers in Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields looms as a win for boxing before another fist is thrown. 

An all-eyes-on-us win for women's boxing is, too, a win for the world of boxing as borders are blended and a once male-driven scene ushers and urges an escalating and compelling transatlantic rivalry to fruition.

In the space of a month the sport could find itself parading confirmation of a landmark Marshall-Shields showdown, staging Katie Taylor's pound-for-pound clash with Amanda Serrano and having just witnessed the second victory of rising star Caroline Dubois's professional career.

Leading narratives in women's boxing have become leading narratives across boxing in its entirety, and so it will continue to a point where the story of competitive parity is no longer a story at all.

Spare a momentary thought in the meantime for Femke Hermans, who has been deemed anything from stepping stone to bystander as seemingly the final scalp on the road to a Marshall and Shields meeting for the title of undisputed champion.

The Belgian, who lost to Shields by unanimous decision in 2018, faces Marshall for the WBO middleweight crown in Newcastle this Saturday with a view to spoiling a party that looks near-impossible to spoil.

With bad blood and verbal rallies comes division-leading talent from two fighters that, while unlikely to meet for a drink, stand as chief influences in regards to equal pay and exposure for women in sport.

"It's the first fight in women's boxing where there's genuine rivalry and dislike," said Boxxer promoter Ben Shalom. "I think this is going to go