Savannah Marshall trainer unhappy with late cancellation of Claressa Shields fight

Hartlepool’s Marshall was set to fight Claressa Shields in an historic bout at the O2 Arena in London

Savannah Marshall, pictured, will have to wait for her clash with Claressa Shields (Owen Humphreys/PA) (PA Wire)

Savannah Marshall’s trainer Peter Fury has expressed frustration over the timing of the cancellation of Saturday’s world middleweight title unification bout against Claressa Shields in London.

The British Boxing Board of Control made the decision to cancel all of this weekend’s scheduled tournaments out of respect to the Queen, with the historic all-female O2 Arena bill its most high-profile casualty.

The decision was announced almost two hours following the scheduled weigh-in for the contest, which promoters Boxxer had said would take place behind closed doors while the status of the contest remained in doubt.

Fury tweeted: “(Savannah Marshall) has not eaten for 24-plus hours – been nice to announce this earlier, it’s on, it’s off etc. Not good for fighters.”

However, Fury did add his sympathy for the promoters and added in response to the Board’s announcement: “When things are out of your control we must move forward. Main thing right now is to show our deepest respects to the queen and their family”.

In a statement, Boxxer indicated they are working towards October 15 as a new date for the contest. American Shields tweeted simply: “Yeah, I understand.”