NEW YORK CITY – From college basketball star to unified champion, Shadasia Green made her dream come true on Friday at Madison Square Garden.
“The Sweet Terminator” Green outhustled the more experienced Savannah Marshall to unify her WBO super middleweight title with Marshall’s IBF belt in a split decision win. One judge had the fight scored for Marshall, 96-93, while the other two overruled that judge with scores of 96-93 and 95-94 in favor of Green, 16-1 (11 KOs), who hails from just across the Hudson River in Paterson, New Jersey.
Early on, it appeared Marshall’s jab and movement would be too much for the heavy-handed Green to overcome. Marshall did an effective job early on of keeping Green turning, not allowing her to set her feet to punch. Green had more of a hole to dig herself out of when, in the fourth, referee Thomas Taylor deducted a point from her for holding, though it doesn’t appear he issued any warnings before the deduction. Marshall underlined the point by landing an overhand right near the end of the round, while taunting Green.
Green began to turn the tide in the fifth round when a right-hand counter buckled Marshall’s knees, causing the "The Silent Assassin" from Hartlepool, England, to stand straight up. Marshall attempted to laugh the shot off, but Green continued to land right hands, including one that knocked her head back at the bell.
Marshall attempted to adjust in the sixth round, stepping to her right to avoid Green’s own right but ate a left hook to begin the round. Just as Marshall had been the boxer early on while Green chased, the roles flipped in the second half of the fight as Green established her jab and walked Marshall into right hands.
With the fight going down to the wire entering the 10th, the two jockeyed for ring position, attempting to walk the other into a right hand. With 15 seconds remaining in the fight, Green hurt Marshall with another right hand, appearing to seal the deal.
The victory was by far the biggest yet for Green, who played point guard for the Old Dominion University women’s basketball team before switching her focus to boxing.
Marshall, 13-2 (10 KOs), was fighting in boxing for the first time in two years, having stepped away from the ring to compete in mixed martial arts last year, when she defeated Mirela Vargas last June in her MMA debut.
Marshall’s only previous pro defeat came against Claressa Shields in October 2022. Marshall is the only boxer to ever defeat Shields, having beaten her in an amateur fight in 2012.
Green has now won three straight since her lone pro defeat, a unanimous decision to Franchon Crews-Dezurn for the WBC super middleweight title in December 2023.
Making her US debut, Ellie Scotney turned in a technical masterpiece, outboxing the more aggressive Yamileth Mercado over 10 rounds to add another 122lbs title to her growing collection.
Scotney, 11-0, retained her IBF and WBO belts, while annexing Mercado’s WBC title, with a victory by the scores of 98-92 on two cards and 100-90 on the third.
Scotney, 27, of London walked to the ring to the tune of “Supersonic” by Oasis, and used her superior footwork to get in and out, while timing right-hand counters on Mercado throughout the bout. Mercado, also 27, of Ciudad Cuauhtemoc, Mexico, saw her six-fight winning streak snapped, losing for the first time since her 2021 unanimous decision loss to Amanda Serrano.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
