Olympics: Savannah Marshall boxes '˜terrible' '“ we'd love to see her when she hits form

The Hartlepool boxer is through to the quarter-finals of the Olympics after a superb win over old rival Anna Laurell.

Marshall had to do it the hard way in her opening middleweight bout in Rio, after losing the opening round to the former two-time world champion.

But the Headland ABC hero was not daunted and came back in magnificent fashion to clinch the last three rounds to take a unanimous points victory.

All three judges from Cuba, Ecuador and Vietnam scored it 39-37 to the Poolie puncher.

The 25-year-old now faces her arch-rival from the Netherlands, Nouchka Fontijn, in the last eight on Wednesday night.

A victory then would take her not only into the semi-final but guarantee her a medal.

Afterwards she claimed she “boxed terribly”, adding “I thought it was a lot closer than a unanimous decision.

“Still, I’m happy to get the win out of the way.”

And so she should be, this is the Olympic Games, not a spar down the Northgate gym, and a win against the experienced operator is not to be sniffed at.

She showed speed, aggression and tons of bottle.

Marshall was out enthusiastically against Laurell but the giant Swede used her reach to good effect to land some long-range good scoring shots.

Savannah did some fine work to the body, but Laurell edged it for all three judges.

It put the World Championship bronze medallist under pressure, but how she responded.

She took the fight to her rival in round two, landing two strong left-right combinationsto the head and then the body plus a right to the chin.

All three judges marked the session to Marshall as they did in round three when she reeled off several eye-catching salvos.

Anna briefly came forward before the bell and there was respect between the pair at the end of the round with touch of gloves.

Marshall was now ahead for the first time going into the last of the four rounds and was determined not to let her good work slip.

She launched the round with a left hook and while the girl in the red vest responded with a couple of accurate single shots, Marshall possessed the quantity and quality, one left-right-left combo forcing Laurell back.

A right from Anna got through but the Tim Coulter-trained boxer dominated the last round to win via a unanimous verdict.

“It was a terrific performance,” said BBC TV summariser and former Olympic medallist Richie Woodhall.

“She lost the first round, so she had to show some bottle and she wasn’t going to be denied.”