Savannah Rose Marshall (born 19 May 1991) is a British

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

and professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

. She has held world championships in two

weight classes Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports including Rowing (sport), rowing, Weightlifting#Weightlifting sports, weight lifting, and especi ...

: the undisputed and ''Ring'' magazine female

super-middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

title since 2023; and the

World Boxing Organization The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

(WBO) female

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

title from 2020 to 2022. As an

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

, she became the first British female world champion after securing gold at the 2012 World Championships.Savannah Marshall wins Britain's first ever women's boxing world title
''The Guardian'', 2012.

Early life

Marshall is from

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

in the

North East of England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County Durham , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. It is the least ...

. She attended the English Martyrs School,Scott Wilso
Shy Savannah's rise to the Olympics
''The Northern Echo'', 2012. where she achieved 12 GCSEs before gaining a Distinction in a BTEC National Diploma in Sport at Hartlepool College.Savannah Marshall Biography
''teamgb.com'', 2012. She began boxing aged 12,Savannah Marshall wins World Championships gold in China
''BBC Sport'', 2012. when she joined a local Hartlepool Headland club after seeing a boy showing off his trophy on the street and decided she wanted one. She went to her local boxing club with two of her girl friends however her friends only went once and decided not to go back. The club had no girls training at this time and had constantly tried to discourage Marshall. She stated that she thinks the trainer looked at her as 'an annoying little girl who kept on coming back' but she was determined, having fallen in love with the sport. They learned to accept her and began to support her. She sparred with the boys at her club. However, when going to other gyms to get sparring partners, it was a struggle. A head trainer of one gym pointed at Savannah and said "what's that? She is not sparring here" and Savannah had to sit and watch the session.

Amateur boxing career

Marshall became the first British female world champion by winning gold at the 2012 World Championships in

Qinhuangdao Qinhuangdao (; zh, s=秦皇岛, link=no) is a port city on the coast of China in northern Hebei. It is administratively a prefecture-level city, about east of Beijing, on the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea. Its population d ...

, China. She was considered a favourite to win gold at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. However, she was defeated 16–12 by

Marina Volnova Marina Ivanovna Volnova (; born 26 July 1989 in Kyzylorda, Kzyl-Orda, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) is a Kazakhstani female amateur boxer. She won the bronze medal in the Women's boxing middleweight 75kg category in ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

in her opening, quarter-final. Marshall remains the only boxer ever to have defeated

Claressa Shields Claressa Maria Shields (born March 17, 1995) is an American professional boxer and former professional Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. She has held multiple world championships in Quintuple champion#Boxing, five weight classes, includi ...

, the middleweight women's gold medallist in the 2012 Olympics; the bout took place in the second round of the 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in

.Woodyard, Eric
"First amateur loss frustrates Flint boxer Claressa Shields, she expected a victory."
Flint Journal, May 15, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012. At the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Marshall beat Ariane Fortin of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

to take the gold medal in the women's middleweight division. In May 2016, Marshall qualified for the

2016 Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, after reaching the semi-finals of the 2016 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships in

. She lost in the quarter-finals to

Nouchka Fontijn Nouchka Fontijn (; born 9 November 1987) is a retired Dutch boxer. She was the European champion in the women's middleweight or 75 kg class after winning gold at both the European Championships in 2014 and the European Games in 2015. Early ...

from the Netherlands by split decision.

Professional boxing career

On 18 May 2017, during a press conference to promote the IBF junior-lightweight title defence of Mayweather promoted

Gervonta Davis Gervonta Bryant Davis ( ; born November 7, 1994), also known by his nickname "Tank", is an American professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight title since 2023, having previously held the Regular version fr ...

against former

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

champion Liam Walsh,

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He list of undefeated boxing world champions, retired with an undefeated record a ...

announced to the press that he had signed Marshall to a professional promotional contract. Marshall made her professional boxing debut at

on the undercard of The Money Fight, in the

professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

super-fight between undefeated five-division champion

and the former

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

Lightweight Champion and Featherweight Champion

Conor McGregor Conor Anthony McGregor (born 14 July 1988) is an Irish professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) UFC Featherweight Championship, Featherweight and UFC Lightweight Championship, Li ...

. It took place at the

T-Mobile Arena T-Mobile Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Paradise, Nevada, United States. Opened on April 6, 2016, it is the home arena of the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). A joint venture between MGM Resorts International ...

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an Unincorporated towns in Nevada, unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the ...

on 26 August 2017. She defeated Sydney LeBlanc by

unanimous decision A unanimous decision (UD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and other sports involving striking and submission in which all three judges agree on which fighte ...

40–36 in a four-round bout. Marshall lifted the vacant WBA super-middleweight Inter-continental title in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, after winning all 10 rounds to claim a comfortable points victory over Yanina Orozco of Argentina. On 31 October 2020, in her ninth professional fight, Marshall became the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

female

world champion with a TKO victory over

Hannah Rankin Hannah Rankin (born 21 July 1990) is a Scottish professional boxer and bare-knuckle boxer. In boxing she has held the WBA and IBO female super-welterweight World titles. Early life Hannah Rankin was born on 21 July 1990 and grew up on her ...

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...

. Marshall was initially scheduled to face

in a title unification bout on September 10, 2022. However, due to the

death of Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, died on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. Elizabeth's reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch. She was ...

the bout was postponed to take place on October 15, 2022. Marshall lost the fight via unanimous decision with two judges scoring the fight 97–93 and one scoring it 96–94. This fight occurred at

the O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London, England. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seat ...

and was the first-time two female boxers headlined at a major venue in the United Kingdom. As well, the fight headlined the first all-female boxing card in the United Kingdom. Marshall challenged Franchón Crews-Dezurn for her undisputed super-middleweight world titles in the main event at the

Manchester Arena Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Pr ...

on 1 July 2023 winning by majority decision. Marshall signed with Jake Paul's Most Valuable Promotions in May 2025. Holding the IBF super middleweight title, Marshall is scheduled to face WBO champion

Shadasia Green Shadasia Amanda Green (born August 7, 1989) is an American professional boxer. She has held the WBO female super-middleweight title since November 2024 and the IBF female super-middleweight title since July 2025. Early life Green was born in ...

in New York, NY, on July 11, 2025.

Mixed martial arts career

Marshall made her MMA debut on 8 June 2024, stopping Mirela Vargas in the first round at

PFL PFL may refer to: Sport * Professional Fighters League, an American mixed martial arts league * Peel Football League, an Australian rules football league * Pioneer Football League, an NCAA Division I FCS football conference * Professional Futsa ...

Europe in Newcastle on 8 June 2024.

Professional boxing record

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Mirela Vargas , TKO (punches) , PFL Europe 2 (2024) , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:27 ,

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, England ,

Notes

References

External links

* * , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Savannah 1991 births Living people English women boxers Sportspeople from Hartlepool Boxers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Boxers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers for Great Britain Boxers at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England People educated at English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships medalists Boxers at the 2015 European Games European Games competitors for Great Britain Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Middleweight boxers Super-middleweight boxers World middleweight boxing champions World super-middleweight boxing champions World Boxing Organization champions World Boxing Council champions World Boxing Association champions International Boxing Federation champions The Ring (magazine) champions English female mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing 21st-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in boxing