SAVANNAH MARSHALL has revealed she “could not lay a glove” on Tommy Fury during a sparring session in her first visit to a pro gym.
Marshall, 31, goes toe-to-toe with Claressa Shields the weekend as they end their war of words in a huge undisputed middleweight title clash.
The fight – which takes place at London’s O2 Arena to headline an historic all-female card – has been 10 YEARS in the making.
Marshall has knocked out 10 of her 12 opponents in the pro ranks and is arguably the most powerful puncher in women’s boxing.
But she has admitted that hasn’t always been the case as she recalls sparring with Tyson Fury’s brother in an eye-opening intro to pro boxing.
Marshall said: “Before I flew out to Vegas for my debut, I was on the phone to Sam Jones and I said ‘I’ve never actually been in a pro gym’.
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“He said, ‘I’m looking after Joe Joyce at the minute and he’s sparring Hughie Fury in Bolton and his dad Peter has said you’re more than welcome to come down and he’ll show you bits and bobs and help get you started for your debut’.
“I didn’t know anything about Peter, I knew he was Tyson’s uncle and knew that Tyson had become heavyweight champion, that’s all I knew. I went down to meet Peter and he was really nice and welcoming.
“I remember him saying ‘do you want to spar?’, I said ‘ahh yeah go on then’. Tommy Fury was there and I remember Peter saying ‘you do not lay a glove on her, do not touch her, I want you working on defence’.
“I put my gloves on and thought ‘I’m going to batter you’ but I could not lay a glove on him, that was my introduction to pro boxing.”
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“I remember thinking ‘wow, this is just a totally different dance.
“I went away and the next day I got a call off Sam saying ‘Peter said you’re more than welcome to come down and he’ll train you for your full camp’.
“During that camp, Peter the philosopher that he is every now again would say ‘you just watch yourself in America, because this pro boxing is not what you think you know’.
“Every now and again he’d drop it again ‘this pro boxing is a dirty business you know?’. Even back then he was prepping me going ‘it’s not all Lamborghinis’ and it wasn’t.”
All four major belts will be awarded on one of the middleweights on Saturday night in this hotly anticipated bout.
Marshall is the only fighter to ever beat Shields – by securing a decision win when the two fought as amateurs in 2012.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
