SAVANNAH MARSHALL claimed one of the biggest victories of her career this evening as she won the Commonwealth Games middleweight final in Glasgow.

Hartlepool's Marshall beat Canada's Ariane Fortin on a split decision to add the Commonwealth Games title to the World Championship crown she claimed two years.

The win, which conclusively draws a line under the memories of a disappointing 2012 Olympics, came at the end of an extremely closely-fought contest that saw the verdict in doubt until the closing seconds of the final round.

Marshall was the more accomplished fighter throughout, with her jab enabling her to take advantage of her superior reach and her impressive footwork causing Fortin problems.

However, the Canadian fighter landed a number of heavy blows, and was generally the more aggressive and positive of the two.

The difference in styles split the judges, with one of them awarding Marshall every round while the other judged Fortin to be a four-point winner.

The crucial third judge came down in Marshall's favour though, enabling the North-Easterner to throw her hands to the air as the result was announced to more than 10,000 raucous supporters in Glasgow's SSE Hydro.