SAVANNAH MARSHALL has revealed she “couldn’t put a glove” on Tommy Fury during a sparring session in her first visit to a professional gym.
Marshall, 31, fights Clarissa Shields at 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 a historic all-female card – has been 10 YEARS in the making.
Marshall has knocked out 10 of her 12 opponents in the professional ranks and is arguably the most powerful puncher in women’s boxing.
But she admitted it wasn’t always like that as she recalled sparring with Tyson Fury’s brother in an eye-opening introduction to professional boxing.
Marshall said: “Before I flew to Vegas for my debut I was on the phone to Sam Jones and I said ‘I’ve never actually been to a professional gym’.
“He said: ‘I’m looking after Joe Joyce at the moment and he’s sparring with Hughie Fury in Bolton and his dad Peter said you’re more than welcome to come and he’ll show you bits and help get you started for your debut’.
“I didn’t know anything about Peter, I knew he was Tyson’s uncle and I knew Tyson had become the 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 go on then’. Tommy Fury was there and I remember Peter saying ‘don’t put a glove on her, don’t touch her, I want you to work on defence’.
“I put the gloves on and I thought ‘I’m going to beat you’ but I couldn’t put a glove on him, that was my introduction to professional boxing.”
“I remember thinking ‘wow, this is a completely different dance.
“I left and the next day I got a call from Sam saying, ‘Peter said you’re more than welcome to come and he’s going to train you for your whole camp.’
“During this camp, Peter, the philosopher that he is at times, said ‘just watch yourself in America, because this professional boxing is not what you think you know.’
“Every once in a while he’d let it out again, ‘this professional boxing is dirty business, you know?’ Even then he was preparing me to go ‘not everyone is a Lamborghini’ and it wasn’t.’
All four major belts will be awarded to one of the middleweights on Saturday night in this hotly anticipated fight.
Marshall is the only fighter to ever defeat Shields – securing a decision victory when the two fought as amateurs in 2012.