Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall's decade-long rivalry primed for historic and explosive climax in London

Complimentary popcorn within a red-chaired movie theater setting felt fittingly foreboding of sporting cinema at this week's final press conference as Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall prepare to swap insults for bar-raising fists on a historic night for boxing.

That goes for boxing in its entirety, as opposed to just a blossoming women's scene that has injected, timely, fresh life and intrigue amid a sombre spell for the industry.

Between Shields and Marshall's see-sawing slurs over amateur defeats and Olympic supremacy, and Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner's boiling point discrepancies over talent and early career privileges, Saturday's primary protagonists have, at times unconsciously, aced the promotion of a landmark first all-female card in the UK.

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Respect and acknowledgement of a career-toughest test for all has come in the form of boundary-pushing needle, the fighters, however, finding mutual ground with regards to their role in new strides for female sport and a willingness displayed by one another to face to best in view of being the best.

Every word that could have been said has been, every storyline that could have surfaced has done so. After an extended camp in light of the death of the Queen and the fight's initial postponement, there is an obvious and overwhelming itch among all involved to hear that first bell in front of a sold out O2.

“Women’s boxing is whiteboard, men’s boxing is hundreds of years old, so you kind of have the best girls fighting the best girls fighting away, there is no nonsense about ‘I don’t want to fight’ and the business of it,” said Top Rank president Todd DuBoef.

“I think when you have personalities like all the girls on this show, there’s no need for me, what am I going to say? I can’t say what these girls can say, these girls are ripping it up, I wish 90 per cent of our men’s fighters could sell a fight like this. But it’s real! And that’s what makes it so great.

“When I first head Tyson Fury, I’m like ‘oh by god, this guy is real’. This is what I hear in these four participants, they are real, they have a passion, they self-deprecate, they have boldness, they’re great athletes, and they’re telegenic. You put that together, I’ll put my money on them any day.”

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Boxxer CEO Ben Shalom admitted this week Marshall likely represented his biggest success story so far, perhaps not only for her development as one of the fiercest punchers on the planet but so too her rise from quiet bystander to the subtly-commanding, dry-humoured superstar aware of which buttons to press and how to temper her engagement in pre-fight sledging.

As much had been evident through her invitation for Shields to join her for coffee beyond fight night.

"We hope after this year she's the biggest star in women's boxing and it's her night Saturday night, whatever happens it's been an incredible journey to get here," he said.

Saturday poses as the night she might have fantasised about, but never truly envisioned, coming to fruition during a less-than-dream stint in Las Vegas at the beginning of her professional career.

"I was once that girl looking up to Nicola Adams, Natasha Jonas and now they’re commentating on Saturday night so it’s come full circle and I’ll know there will be young girls and young boys sat there in the arena watching and hopefully will be inspired to take up the sport. That’s something I’m really proud of," she said.

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"The interest in this fight, what we've seen over the past week in the numbers and the way this is tracking, both fights and the whole card. We've never seen anything like it and it's bound to break records. To do it with a women's card, that's a special moment to the sport and this is a groundbreaking moment for everyone that is involved."

Where the two can relate is an evident shortage of female fighting influences as young girls growing up, both having since shouldered that responsibility as role models to athletes like 21-year-old prospect Caroline Dubois, who on multiple occasions this week has expressed her excitement to be competing on the card of people she grew up watching.

"It means a lot," said Shields. "Right now women’s boxing is booming in the UK, and they’re giving us the equality with the good pay, the great venue, the great exposure. It’s showing that when you make the best fights and have got people from opposite sides of the world that are world champions who have got a little spice in there, you can have great women’s boxing.

"I think representation is everything. I may have not had role models to look up to but my dad told me Muhammad Ali had a whole lot of kids but only his daughter took after him, so when my dad said that, it registered with me. That’s why I started taking boxing at first, just to make my dad happy so he could live some of his life through me.

"When he told me he loved boxing and that’s what he wanted to do with his life, I thought he was telling me, ‘I want you to box to make me happy’ and so I signed up from there. I think now other girls see me and want to be like me, loud or quiet, I’m telling all the girls, be you, don’t let anybody change you."

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An unfinished script is ideally-poised, Marshall having out-pointed Shields as an amateur in 2012 to inflict the American's only career defeat after which the latter went on to win double Olympic gold, double World Championships gold and four world titles in two weight classes.

Their feud has meanwhile been glossed by a perfect clash of styles in Marshall's well-touted power and Shields' finesse-orientated approach. Both have promised pain, both have promised knockdowns, both believe they are and have always been the more accomplished fighter. And while both want to finish business on Saturday, there is always the chance this rages on and on. Who would say no to that?

"I read the signed contract, I designed the language for the signed contract, and if the fight is as good a fight as we hope it can be, there can absolutely be a rematch," said Shields' manager Mark Taffet, prompting a reply of 'sadly' from his fighter.

"I don’t know who read her agreement, who signed her agreement, but we know what the language is. The truth is, contracts don’t make rematches, fighters make rematches, and when this fight is over, doesn’t matter what the contracts say, I don’t think there’s a chance in heck that Savannah Marshall would ever want a rematch."

Marshall's response regarding a potential rematch clause? "Same answer, she won't want a rematch."

The talking, some A-grade, soundbite-dreamy talking, is done. Over to fight night.

Watch Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall meet to unify the middleweight titles live on Sky Sports from 7.30pm on Saturday.