Savannah Marshall believes her late stand-in opponent Maria Lindberg will prove to be a tougher assignment than her original opponent Femke Hermans when they meet for the WBO Middleweight World Title tonight, live on Sky Sports in the UK and on DAZN in the U.S. and more than 200 countries and territories.

Marshall (9-0, 7 KOs) stopped Hannah Rankin in seven rounds to win the vacant WBO crown last October, the former amateur World Champion was a class above her Scottish rival from the opening bell and managed to go one better than her old foe Claressa Shields by ending the fight inside the distance.

The Hartlepool fighter was due to face Belgium’s Hermans in her maiden defence until the European Champion was forced to pull out of their contest just days ago due to two positive Coronavirus tests in her camp. 

Sweden’s Lindberg, a former four-time World Title challenger, has shared the ring with the likes of Christina Hammer, Ema Kozin and Marie Eve Dicaire, and Marshall says she is prepared for a hard night’s work in her first fight of 2021.

“If anything, this is a tougher fight than the original fight we had,” said Marhsall. “Maria is very experienced, tough and been in with some of the best in the world – Christina Hammer twice. I’m expecting a tough fight come Saturday.

“I’ve had a twelve-week camp, so I’ve prepared for everything. Whatever Maria brings I’m more than confident I’ve got the answer for. I found out about Femke Hermans being off on Saturday and I thought there was no way they'd get me a replacement opponent at such short notice. 

"Luckily Matchroom pulled it out of the bag and got me an opponent. She's had three times as many fights as me so I'm sure she knows all of the little tricks of the trade. She'll probably never get a chance like this again so really it's the last roll of the dice for her. She's definitely going to come all guns blazing."