In the wake of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, many sporting events in England will be canceled. Among those is the planned bout between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall that was scheduled for Saturday from the O2 Arena in London.
The British Boxing Board of Control made the announcement on Friday that all tournaments and events this weekend will be postponed as the country mourns. BOXXER is provisionally planning to reschedule the event for Oct. 15 at the same location.
The fight was arguably the most highly anticipated of Shields' already-impressive career. Marshall (12-0, 10 KO) is the current WBO women's middleweight champion. The fight with Shields (12-0, 2 KO) would have been to unify Marshall's belt with the WBA, WBC and IBF versions of the belt to create an undisputed champion in the division.
Marshall is the only woman to ever defeat Shields in a boxing ring, holding a 2012 amateur win. Shields turned professional with a 64-1 amateur record and having won two Olympic gold medals.
As a professional, Shields has won world titles at junior middleweight, middleweight and super middleweight, becoming arguably the greatest female boxer in history.
