Savannah Marshall reclaimed her place at the summit of women's boxing as she beat Franchon Crews-Dezurn by majority decision to become undisputed super-middleweight champion of the world and open the door to a potential rematch with Claressa Shields, who watched on from ringside in Manchester.
Marshall out-manoeuvred and out-classed her American opponent in a gritty, gruelling and, at times, messy battle as she fought for the first time since suffering her first professional defeat to Shields in October's historic grudge match at The O2.
The Silent Assassin produced a bullish reminder of her punch power, clubbing the champion with crisp shots to assert her dominance on the way to being declared a 95-95, 99-92, 97-93 winner on the judge's cards and thereby improving her record to 13-1.
Crews-Dezurn, who had been out of the ring since last April's win over Elin Cederroos, meanwhile slips to 8-2.
Marshall was first to strike when she squeezed through a clinical right hand to snap back the head of Crews-Dezurn in the opening round, the American's reply coming in the form of a snappy left to redden the face of her rival.
With her heavyweight bounce and armed with that steely right hand, Marshall walked down the champion in search of firing range before a grappling match almost resulted in the American losing her balance and sending herself to the canvas.
An overhand right from Marshall had Crews-Dezurn in another moment of concern as she resorted to clinching on the inside.
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