It has been confirmed how the female middleweight unification clash between Claressa Shielda and Savannah Marshall, which was to have taken place tomorrow night in London, has been postponed due to the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Also, the chief supporting bout, the junior lightweight unification between Mikaela Mayer and Alycia Baumgardner, has also been pulled. The officials discussed the matter today and came to the conclusion that the card should not go ahead out of respect for her majesty.
All boxing set for today in the UK has also been called off, along with plenty of other sport being postponed, including a number of big football matches.
According to a news story from ESPN.com, the two fights have been rescheduled for October 15th, at the same venue, the O2 Arena in London.
Obviously, this close to fight time, all four women (as well as the under card boxers) are sure to be desperately disappointed. That said, both Shields and Marshall, as well as Mayer and Baumgardner, took the time to express their sadness over the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
“My condolences to the people of the UK GB Rest in peace Queen Elizabeth,” Shields and Mayer both wrote on social media.
While Marshall uploaded tributes on her Instagram page.
“I offer my sincerest condolences to the people of the UK for the loss of its longest serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth. She meant so much to many and served as a source of stability for her nation,” Baumgardner wrote.
These two massive women’s fights had really captured the attention of the fans, and it’s a shame we will now have to wait an additional five weeks to see them happen. It must be almost agony for the fighters, to be so ready, actually raring, to fight and now have to wait. The two fights were both genuine bad blood affairs but now all four women will have to remain composed and simply await the new date. It was a classy display from all four fighters that they took time to pay their respects to our departed Queen.