‘My world title fight was off so I applied for a job at Lidl’: Savannah Marshall on limbo of life in lockdown

Savannah Marshall, one of Britain’s finest boxers, was supposed to fight for a world title last month. Instead, she has found herself applying for a job at the local Lidl.

“My fight was cancelled just two weeks before it was supposed to take place,” she tells The Independent from her family home in Hartlepool. “The timing couldn’t have been any worse and it has cost me thousands of pounds that I am never going to get back. And so I have been applying for supermarket jobs at Lidl, just to tide me by.”

On the surface, women’s boxing is booming. The likes of Katie Taylor, Nicola Adams and Claressa Shields are household names. Both Taylor and Shields have headlined major shows featuring established male boxers. And, in the UK, Terri Harper recently became Great Britain’s second major female world champion, with Marshall poised to become the third.

Yet Marshall’s recent struggles typify the perilous financial position so many in the industry now find themselves in. British boxing is currently suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak, with the British Boxing Board of Control warning that the sport will not immediately resume when the lockdown is lifted. Promoters, television companies and the authorities are all braced for crippling losses. All boxers can do is hold their breath, and hope.

Which is why Marshall, a Commonwealth, European and World champion at amateur level, has had to abandon her preparations to fight New Zealand’s Geovana Peres for the WBO light-heavyweight title. For now, she has to focus her attention on more pressing matters.

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“Here I am on the very fringe of fighting for a world title and I am applying for a job in a supermarket,” she says. “The problem is people just really don’t understand how much we are making. People ask how much I am paid for a fight and it sounds like a good amount, but then I have to give 10 percent here and 10 percent there.

“Because I was only two weeks before my fight, I had spent between £5-10k on my training camp already. That’s thousands of pounds on sparring partners, the best food, the best physios. Which I would hope to get back when my fight paid. But obviously the fight didn’t happen. And so that’s money I am never going to get back.”

Boxing is a gruelling sport in and out of the ring. Ahead of a fight, boxers do not only have their training to worry about. They must also take responsibility for assembling their own teams: recruiting trainers, physiotherapists and nutritionists out of their own pocket. And so each fight is a financial gamble. Spend big and win, and the rewards can be massive. Lose, and things can get difficult very quickly.

But failing to make it to fight night can be even worse.

Whereas some have been struggling to while away the long hours during these wearisome lockdown days, Marshall has been kept busy. When not maintaining her fitness levels – “I’ve been doing a lot of running when I can, and using my kettlebells” – or looking for alternative sources of income, she has also been fielding calls from the friends and family who bought hundreds of tickets from her for the Peres fight, which was due to take place at the Newcastle Arena, less than an hour’s drive from where she grew up in Hartlepool.

“Most of my friends and family have been lucky,” she says. “But, before I got told about the fight, I did have a lot of people messaging me telling me that they had been laid off and asking me for a refund, because they were struggling. I had a lot of people telling me that they were out of work.

“I’d done my whole camp, was at peak fitness and had sold 600 tickets. And then I was told that the fight was off. I’ve since been told that it could be rearranged for June, but whenever it will happen, it will be behind closed doors. So I have spent the whole of last weekend refunding around £30k worth of tickets.”

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Even so, Marshall is in a better position than others. She was not on a ticket deal for the Peres fight, meaning her wage was not dependent on gate revenue, as is the case with many small hall boxers. She is also fortunate to have a loyal group of sponsors behind her, although those companies are naturally not immune from the contracting economy.

“I was on the phone to one of them the other day and I had to tell them that I would much rather they pay one of their employees than pay me,” she adds. “I know that they’re going through difficulties as well. So I told them if they get to a point where they are struggling, then please, just let me know.”

Marshall still hopes to fight Peres for the world title soon. She has been told by Eddie Hearn, the managing director of Matchroom Boxing, to aim for a potential June date, although other promoters have privately told The Independent that there is unlikely to be any boxing until at least September. And that’s assuming the Government lockdown is lifted next month. Should it extend further, and there is a real possibility there will be no boxing until 2021.

All Marshall can do is maintain her fitness and cross her fingers, like the rest of us. The biggest night of her life continues to hover tantalisingly on the horizon, just out of her reach. “The thing is, nobody knows what’s happening, do they?” she asks. “We’re all in limbo”.