Fight Talk: Marshall and Shields trade blows on Twitter

Claressa Shields was not in the mood for banter with Savannah Marshall

Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall's planned fight may now be delayed, but they traded some heavy blows with one another on Twitter over the weekend.

Plus, Amir Khan feels the love in retirement and Tony Yoka gets a shock hometown beating from Martin Bakole.

Here are just a few of the things happening in the world of boxing this week.

A special date for Marshall v Shields

It seems like we will have to wait a little longer to see Claressa Shields take on Savannah Marshall. An undisputed world middleweight title fight was on the cards for July, but Briton Marshall has requested a delay after receiving a doctor's note advising she has surgery.

These two have beef going way back and Marshall was keen to remind her old foe over the weekend of the time she beat her at amateur level.

The WBO middleweight champion, from Hartlepool, remains the only woman to have beaten Shields, who has multiple world championships in three weight classes.

Shields, of course, wasn't going to take that assault without firing back.

Blows traded.

And then WBO junior-middleweight champion Natasha Jonas joined the fun.

Amir Khan hangs up his gloves

It was news that many of us were expecting, and on Friday 35-year-old Khan officially announced he has decided to call time on his boxing career.

• Amir Khan: Former world champion says he feels more appreciated following retirement

Khan burst onto the scene at the 2004 Athens Olympics, winning a silver medal aged just 17.

When he beat Zab Judah in 2011, he became a unified world champion, famed for his lightning fast hands.

He also had some big losses though, including knock-outs by Danny Garcia and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, plus defeats against Lamont Peterson and current pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford.

Most recently, he was schooled by long-time rival Kell Brook.

So, how do we weigh up the Bolton lad's career? Lots of fans have thrown their opinions around over the weekend and the consensus seems to be that we need to put some respect on the man's name.

Khan himself has said he already feels he's been given more respect since he announced his retirement.

"The message I'm getting is people now appreciate you a little bit more," he commented.

"I didn't ever think that would happen. Maybe you get more respect when you retire than when you're in the sport."

Among Khan's many contributions to the sport, many will cite the way he has acted as a role model and inspiration for British Asians.

With representation from the likes of WBC Youth world champion Sahir Iqbal and WBO European light-middleweight Mohammed Hamzah Sheeraz, British-Asian boxing is in a healthy place.

Before announcing his retirement, Khan revealed he had been hanging out with another ex-pro in Dubai, where he has a house.

One may well ask why that fight never materialised...

Anyway, it remains to be seen how exactly Khan will choose to employ his talents going forward.

In the meantime, if you're missing him already, you can watch him train, fight and talk about whether ketchup should go in the fridge or not in BBC Three reality series, Meet The Khans, Big in Bolton (on iPlayer here).

Y'okay Yoka?

Martin Bakole delivered a beat-down on Tony Yoka's home turf on Saturday.

Many pundits expected France's 2016 Olympic gold medallist Yoka to come out on top, but Congolese fighter Bakole dominated the Frenchman, handing him his first career defeat on points and dropping him to the canvas twice during the fight.

There was disbelief amongst some fans that one judge scored the fight as a draw.

We should have known Bakole meant business when he turned up in those electric green shorts. A man doesn't wear shorts like that unless he's feeling confident.

Bakole trains in Scotland with trainer Billy Nelson, who has trained a number of successful boxers including Ricky Burns, David Brophy and Stephen Simmons.

Irish boxer Michael Conlan was quick to congratulate Nelson, but could not quite bring himself to extend those well-wishes as far as Nelson's football team, Rangers, who play in a Europa League final on Wednesday.

Could Bakole now be in line for a heavyweight bout with highly ranked British fighters like Dillian Whyte, Daniel Dubois, Joe Joyce or Hughie Fury?

Fast feet

And finally, we still haven't got over this viral video from last week of Terence Crawford's daughter, Talaya, losing her shoe on an athletics track but still going on to absolutely smoke her opponents.