‘She is terrified’ – Claressa Shields hoping Savannah Marshall does not back out of summer showdown with agreement close

Claressa Shields is hoping a ‘terrified’ Savannah Marshall does not back out of their huge unification fight this summer – warning she is coming to the UK to give her old rival nowhere to run.

A defeat to Marshall in a 2012 amateur contest is the only blemish on Shields’ impeccable boxing record and the source of an intense rivalry the two have shared over the last 10 years.

The Michigan fighter, who currently holds the WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight titles, is one of the most decorated active fighters in boxing, becoming the quickest man or woman in history to win world championships in three different weight classes while ruling as undisputed queen in two of them.

A deal to fight WBO middleweight champion Marshall in July is thought to be close. That bout will serve as another historic moment for women’s boxing, following on from Katie Taylor’s titanic clash with Amanda Serrano at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Shields however remains unconvinced Marshall truly wants the fight.

‘I am already fully prepared to win this fight and to go to the UK to fight her,’ Shields told Metro.co.uk.                              

‘I have been telling people for years, she is terrified of me. No matter how many girls she has knocked out or what her record may show, she knows I am a different kind of animal and she is not able to knock me out or walk all over me. It is going to be the toughest fight of her life.

‘That win [Marshall beating Shields in the amateurs] when I was 17 is where her confidence comes from. I have already proven that I am better than her, with my two Olympic gold medals, my world championships, my world titles in three divisions.

‘I am hoping it is going to be this summer because I have other things I want to do before