Joe Ramage: Hartlepool's Savannah Marshall can help lift boxing from the mire in Claressa Shields showdown

Marshall’s long-awaited showdown with rival Shields has been over a decade in the making - so what is an extra month after the original date of the fight was postponed due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II early in September?

But it’s been a fairly tumultuous time in the world of boxing since then owing to the events of the last 10 days ahead of Conor Benn’s proposed blockbuster fight with Chris Eubank Jr.

And, in a way, the turmoil and aftermath caused by Benn’s positive drug test in the lead up to that fight last week means the onus now falls on both Marshall and Shields to grab the sport by the scruff of the neck and attempt to lift it once more from its muddied waters.

Benn and Eubank Jr were set to continue their fathers’ legacy at the O2 a week ago before the fight was cancelled following revelations of Benn testing positive for the banned substance of clomifene.

Despite reports suggesting both teams were made aware of Benn’s results over a week prior to the event, the catchweight fight, remarkably, looked set to go ahead until an 11th hour cancellation after promoters, fighters and the British Boxing Board of Control became entangled in a war of attrition over their stance.

Benn, it is reported, is now being investigated over claims that he failed another drugs test earlier this year for the same clomifene substance which has thrown further shade over the sport.

But while that fiasco will undoubtedly roll on, boxing must move on and that begins with Hartlepool’s WBO champion Marshall and her quest to become undisputed.

Much like that of Benn and Eubank Jr, Marshall’s battle with Shields was pulled at the 11th hour after several deliberations as to whether the event should continue following the death of the Queen.

Ultimately, however, once football had led the way in postponing its fixtures that weekend, the writing was on the wall for both Marshall and Shields.

Marshall has admitted to the weeks since that postponement being an anomaly as she was put into a five-week holding pattern.

Marshall told Sky Sports: “I felt emotionally drained and I didn't get out of bed for a couple of days after. I really needed that week to just kind of forget about boxing.”

But now Marshall must hold boxing at the forefront of her mind.

The opportunity to cement her own legacy and become the undisputed middleweight champion of the world and take home the inaugural WBC Elizabethan Belt in honour of the Queen - a title Marshall says ‘can’t leave this country,’ is finally here.

The first all female card in the UK is an historic moment in both boxing and women’s sport in its own right, with Marshall and Shields leading the way, but they now also have the opportunity to go beyond that and provide a significant boost to the world of boxing as a whole by pulling it from the mire and shining a light on the sport for all the right reasons once again.