ANTHONY JOSHUA and Eddie Hearn partied until 6am after the Brit reclaimed his heavyweight belts by beating Andy Ruiz Jr last year.
Savannah Marshall was crowned WBO middleweight ruler last month – but the most rock ‘n roll thing she has done since her historic win is curl up on the sofa to binge watch The Crown on Netflix.
Savannah Marshall was too good for Hannah Rankin and won the WBO middleweight title last monthCredit: PA:Press Association
Savannah Marshall with her coach Peter Fury (right) and his son Hughie (left)
The Hartlepool-born 29-year-old told SunSport: “I boxed on October 31, I won the world title and I can’t celebrate.
“I can’t go out. I can’t have a drink or even go out for meals. I’ve just been watching The Crown!
“I’m only on season two, episode two. Phillip has just been playing away in the South Pacific – but they’re proper oddballs aren’t they.
“I love the Queen’s sister, she just doesn’t give a f***. I’ve been on Wikipedia seeing who is related to who!”
Marshall became the first British world amateur champion in 2012 and repeated her feat eight years later in the paid ranks with a cracking KO of Hannah Rankin.
The North-East ace stopped the Scot in seven Wembley Arena rounds, with a masterclass of footwork and power punching.
But she credited her trainer, Peter Fury – uncle to Tyson and Tommy – for her meteoric rise.
She added: “I’ve been with Peter now for three years.
Savannah Marshall tried to knock Tommy Fury’s ‘head off’ in sparringCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
“My last amateur fight was at the Rio 2016 Olympics and you only have to watch my face to see how much I’ve changed.
“Not just the way I box but also my demeanor, my confidence.
“Just being around him, the way he looks at life, his philosophy, I think it’s rubbed off on me.
“I honestly feel like with Peter in my corner I could conquer the world.”
Fury also trains his son Hughie and was keen to work with Marshall just after her professional debut in Las Vegas.
The World champ has lifted the lid on when she first stepped foot in the maestro’s gym, where she tried to knock 6ft Love Island star Tommy Fury’s ‘head off’ in sparring.
Marshall continued: “Peter didn’t know anything about me but he said to Tommy ‘don’t you dare hit her’.
“So we were sparring and I was trying to knock Tommy’s head off and he wasn’t allowed to hit me, but he was just untouchable.
“I couldn’t lay a glove on him, he was just dodging!
“iI just totally opened my eyes to professional boxing because like I said, I couldn’t lay a glove on Tommy.
“I thought wow I’m training like a world class heavyweight man.”
The Hartlepool star’s heroics against Rankin came just two weeks before a groundbreaking female-led show with three women’s world-title fights on one card.
Katie Taylor, Terri Harper and Rachel Ball set Wembley alight for the historic triple-header – but women’s boxing hasn’t always been on fire.
Rachel Ball, Katie Taylor and Terri Harper shone in a historic women’s triple-header in NovemberCredit: �Mark Robinson Photography Ltd
Claressa Shields (right) has won 77 of 78 amateur fights and remains undefeated in all ten since going proCredit: AP:Associated Press
And Marshall, who first stepped into a gym at 11-years-old, knows the struggles of trying to make it in a man’s world.
She revealed: “We went to a boxing club in Sunderland and I was 13 at the time.
“We went to spar and when I got there, the coach was this old man, like an old-school boxing coach.
“I remember him pointing at me from across the gym, and he said ‘what’s that?’
“At the time, I just pretended I didn’t hear it. My coach went, ‘what do you mean? She’s my female boxer’.
“He said ‘there’s no girls allowed in this gym’.
“I wasn’t allowed to spar because I was a girl and I just had to watch. I didn’t like sparring but if that was my favorite thing that could have ruined my dreams.”
Marshall has always been a sport nut and her family have been in her corner every step of the way.
She recalls her mum, Christine, saving up for her first pair of boxing gloves for a Christmas present when she was 11-years-old.
The middleweight ruler said: “I think my mam just thought it was a phase and I remember when I first asked for gloves we never ever had money.
“They were expensive and I remember my mam saying ‘we’ll see, if you carry on going I’ll buy you a pair of boxing gloves’.
“I had been there for about six months and over Christmas I got a pair of baby blue boxing gloves.”
The Brit now hopes to fight undisputed queen Claressa Shields from America next year, who she already beat as an amateur.
She said: “I think that is the biggest fight in female boxing. I don’t think that there’s anything that will top that.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
