Savannah Marshall says she has “tunnel vision” going into this Saturday’s defense of her WBO female middleweight title against Femke Hermans taking place at Newcastle Utilita Arena, live on Sky Sports, knowing that a win will set up a showdown with bitter rival Claressa Shields.

Savannah Marshall: “Everyone keeps asking how I can focus on Femke when everyone is talking about Claressa. But the thing is, everyone’s been talking about Claressa for the past four years. She’s always been creeping about in the background for me, this is nothing new. [A win on Saturday means there is] nothing stopping setting up a massive fight between me and Claressa in the summer.”

Femke Hermans: “I’m in very good shape, I’ve had a great training camp, everything has fallen together in the last month and I am ready to kick some ass on Saturday.”