The butterfly effect

UNDERCARD

TWENTY years ago, Savannah Marshall decided to follow some of her friends to the local boxing gym where she then had to persuade Tim Coulter, the coach at the Hartlepool Headland Boys Club, to let her stay. Approximately four years later, over in Flint, Michigan, an 11-year-old Claressa Shields pounded a heavy bag for the first time, each punch laced with anger about the cruel childhood she’d been forced to endure. In 2012, eight years after Marshall had convinced Coulter of her ability to fight and five since boxing became Shields’ salvation, the pair came together at the amateur World Championships in China. After three close rounds, Marshall was declared the winner on points in a bout that was given a solitary paragraph by Boxing News at the time. On Saturday night, atop an all-female card at the O2 in London, Marshall and Shields will rematch in a professional ring.

Shields-Marshall will be showcased by Sky Sports this weekend. It’s the kind of event that particular broadcaster rightly prides itself on being associated with. For many reasons, it’s an important fight. A symbol,, the contest’s appeal has little to do with gender, equality, or what the contest stands for in the wider sporting world. Very simply, but so importantly, it is a supremely matched fight between the two best middleweights in the world. Regardless of the sex of the combatants, these are the kind of fights we as an industry must champion.