History will be made this weekend when an all-female boxing event will be staged at the O2 Arena in London.
The highly exciting card will be headlined by the undisputed middleweight world title fight between England's Savannah Marshall and American Claressa Shields, while WBO and IBF super-featherweight champion Mikaela Mayer faces WBC champion Alycia Baumgardner in a unification fight.
There are 11 fights in total scheduled for the night and the event, which is being staged by Boxxer, comes at a hugely exciting time for women's boxing on the back of Katie Taylor's Madison Square Garden win over Amanda Serrano earlier this year.
It also takes place just one week after Liverpool's Natasha Jonas unified the WBC and WBO super-welterweight world titles with victory over Patricia Berghult, while Serrano will return to the ring in Manchester later this month, with Taylor expected to fight again before the year is out.
It has also been announced that Chantelle Cameron and Jessica McCaskill will clash in a fascinating bout in early November, with that fight set to take place in Dubai this November.
Saturday's event has been described by Mayer as something that "absolutely had to happen".
She stated: "I knew from the second I heard about this card, that it was going to be iconic and it absolutely had to happen.
"I was on board with it right away and I saw how amazing it was going to be, and I also love that we're creating a platform for the next generation of talent on the undercard to have this type of stage to showcase their skills on."
But Taylor was completely against an all-female card when her promoter Eddie Hearn floated the idea ahead of International Women's Day a few years ago.
Hearn previously revealed: “I spoke to Katie Taylor about an all women’s card and I thought that was a really good idea. Katie Taylor looked at me like she wanted to punch me when I said that."
He added: “When I started to think about it I understand what she is saying. What they are fighting for away from the world championships is equality and it’s about saying it’s not women’s boxing and men’s boxing, it’s boxing. So listening to what she said a women’s only card is actually detrimental to what we are trying to do."
However, the appetite seems to be there for such an event now and Saturday's card will be another historic step for women's boxing, which continues to go from strength to strength.
Claressa Shields has long been mentioned in the debate with Taylor as to who is the pound for pound greatest women's fighter, but due to their significant weight difference, they will never collide in the ring.
Shields' only defeat either as an amateur or professional came against Marshall at the 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships and there is no love lost between the pair.
And Shields believes the fight could match Taylor's incredible win over Serrano earlier this year.
She said: "I believe the storyline behind it means it can be as big.
"With how great I am, and how she's built up to be this knockout artist - that's why [it can be as big as Taylor v Serrano]."
You can follow live updates from Saturday's event live right here on IrishMirror.ie.
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