Savannah Marshall believes Claressa Shields' inability to "control herself" will be her downfall in Saturday's undisputed world title fight; watch the historic clash live on Saturday October 15 on Sky Sports
Friday 14 October 2022 13:45, UK
Claressa Shields says Savannah Marshall is "scared of me" after she exposed her bitter rival's attempts to intimidate her in a bad-tempered build-up to their undisputed world title fight.
The self-acclaimed 'Greatest Woman of All Time' has been critical of Marshall throughout the build-up while maintaining her belief that she will emerge victorious at The O2 on Saturday.
Bad blood between the pair resumed on Thursday as Shields accused Marshall of being a bully.
"I watched in the lead up to her fight with Hannah Rankin and how she bullied Hannah Rankin, how her and April (Hunter) talked trash to Hannah, posting old sparring film, being really mean to her and Hannah Rankin isn't that kind of person to give that energy back, she's very kind and very sweet," said Shields.
"She thought she was going to pull that same c**p with me - no, you aren't going to disrespect me ever because I will smack you, if you want to go low I'll go lower, you're not going to bully me.
"That's what she's intimidated by, that she can't bully or out-talk me and if she wanted to get into something before the fight I'm all for it, I'm not going to turn it away.
"If she thinks she's going to stand in my face, put her hands on me and slap me, guess what, I'll do 10 times more than that and she knows that and that makes her scared of me.
"She's mean, she's a bully, I don't want to be cordial with you, I don't want to be your friend. When Saturday comes she'll know we are not friends, and to keep her hand up because she's going to be hit all the time."
Marshall believes Shields' strong dislike for her will prove costly on Saturday night.
She channelled that sentiment with jest at Thursday's press conference by occasionally urging Shields to "steady" herself when exchanges became heated.
"I think that will be her downfall, that she can't control herself," said Marshall.
"I believe I have the power to hurt her, I do genuinely believe I can hurt her," she continued. "If I didn't think I could beat Claressa I wouldn't have taken the fight, I know what I can do and know I've got enough to beat her."
Watch Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall meet to unify the middleweight titles live on Sky Sports from 7.30pm on Saturday.
