Peter Fury has cleared up the confusion about where his successful partnership with Savannah Marshall stands.
Fury recently appeared on Carl Froch’s “Froch on Fighting” podcast and, during his introduction, the former unified super-middleweight champion mentioned that Fury and Marshall had amicably parted ways.
In June, Marshall, the undisputed super middleweight champion, won her MMA debut via first-round stoppage. Before that fight she spoke about just how much she had enjoyed preparing for her debut with the renowned MMA coach Andy Aspinall, and she also seemed to enjoy the wild four minutes she spent in the cage with Mirela Vargas.
Although Marshall seems to be concentrating on her career with the Professional Fight League, Fury told Boxing Now that Froch had spoken prematurely when he declared that he and Marshall are no longer working together.
“Carl asked me before the interview,” Fury laughed. “He said, ‘What’s Savannah doing these days?’ I said, ‘She’s doing MMA with Andy Aspinall’ and he took it on board to just come out with that himself so I never got chance to answer it.
“Me and Savannah are absolutely cool together. There’s no problem at all and I wish her all the best. Andy’s a very good friend of mine. I’m absolutely over the moon with the move there. She wants to do it. I’m not an MMA person. What am I gonna do?
“It’s a dedicated sport. They know what they’re doing, Savannah loves it and I’m happy for her to do it. I’ve got no issues with her doing that with Andy Aspinall. No, we haven’t fell out and there’s no issues. Not as far as I’m aware anyway.
“It’s not correct that we’ve parted ways or had a fall out.”
It is over a year since Marshall became the undisputed !68lbs champion by outpointing Franchon Crews Dezurn, and a viable challenger for her titles has still to emerge.
Her old rival Claressa Shields is also always on the lookout for a meaningful challenge. The unbeaten multi-weight world champion recently moved up to 175lbs and added light-heavyweight and heavyweight titles to her collection by easily stopping Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse.
Shields has been competing in the PFL for three years – compiling a 2-1 record – and it was the possibility of a rematch with her long-time rival that enticed Marshall to try MMA in the first place.
It is almost two years since Shields beat Marshall in their undisputed middleweight title fight and a rematch remains the most high-profile and most lucrative option for either fighter regardless of the platform in which it takes.
It appears more likely that if two of the best female boxers on the planet are to meet again, it will be in a mixed martial arts cage. But if things do change and Marshall gets the opportunity to even the score with Shields in the ring, Fury would happily jump back into his old role.
“I ain’t taking no more fighters to be honest,” he said. “For Savannah, if it’s a world title fight or a serious fight, of course I would. She’s been with me all of her career so of course I’m going to relook at it if the opportunity comes.
“But who knows? It might go down in the cage and if it that happens, so be it. Brilliant. I’ll support her with it. No issues.”