All or Nothing in Manchester as Franchon Crews-Dezurn Defends Undisputed Super-Middleweight Title Against Savannah Marshall

 

Saturday’s undisputed super-middleweight title fight in Manchester is billed as All or Nothing and, although Savannah Marshall is playing host, it’s Franchon Crews-Dezurn who is bringing everything to the table. Her five championship belts are the appetizers, main course, and dessert on this weekend’s menu.  

“I’m going to have plenty to feed you, I promise you,” boasted the blinged-out queen of the 168-pound division while seated across from the soft-spoken Marshall during a Sky Sports promotional segment called The Gloves Are Off. “They call me ‘Big Mama’ for a reason. Because when I come through, they shut everything down.”

Britain’s ‘Silent Assassin’ claimed “I’m even hungrier than the last time” with regard to receiving her second consecutive opportunity to become an undisputed champion, to which Crews-Dezurn retorted, “Hungry for an ass whooping.” 

A natural born entertainer, Franchon undeniably enjoys performing for the camera, her thousand-watt smile outshining the spotlights lavished upon her. But don’t let the hair weave, flashy outfits, and designer sunglasses fool you into committing the fatal flaw of believing that Crews-Dezurn is all style and no substance. Not unlike the nickname ‘Big Mama,’ she didn’t come by her ring moniker ‘The Heavy-Hitting Diva’ by accident either.        

More than just an elite-level boxer, Crews-Dezurn describes herself as a “freedom fighter” and a “new age pioneer” who owes everything she has attained to her Mom. Already juggling her amateur boxing career with three jobs and the pursuit of a college degree, a young Franchon added the role of caretaker to her long list of responsibilities when her mother Sarah was attacked and hospitalized by an assailant attempting a home invasion. 

Growing up the only girl among four Crews siblings, fighting just to be seen and heard became second nature. Singing songs she had composed herself was not merely a hobby but a creative endeavor which led the seventeen-year-old Franchon to an American Idol audition, only to receive a typical Simon Cowell blowoff. Initially, she began boxing as a way to lose weight to benefit her singing career, but watching her Mom defy the odds for survival without self-pity or resentment served as the inspiration for a reversal in Franchon’s priorities. “When she fought to live,” says Crews-Dezurn, “I fought to win.”     

With her mother still in the hospital, Franchon competed in her first major tournament, knocking out two of her three opponents en route to emerging on top of the 2005 USA National Championships at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs with four more titles to come in subsequent years. Three months later, Crews-Dezurn would win the first of three consecutive National Golden Gloves tournaments and would add a Pan Am gold medal to her trophy case in 2006.     

Franchon’s first stumbling block preventing her from representing Team USA in the 2012 Olympics arrived in the form of none other than Savannah Marshall. The two first squared off opposite one another in November 2011, in London naturally, for the semifinals of the Olympic test event. The way Crews-Dezurn recalls it, she went into the last of four rounds ahead by two, only for the hometown favorite to be awarded the decision by two rounds. She would lose to Claressa Shields and Raquel Miller during the Olympic Trials, and a loss to China’s Meiqing Yuan at the 2012 World Championships sealed her fate as far as the London Summer Games were concerned.  

After failing to qualify again in 2016, Crews-Dezurn intended to remain in the novice ranks and wait around for the next Olympic cycle, but was offered to turn pro and fight her amateur teammate and close friend Claressa Shields in what would be the pro debut for both women on the undercard of the first Andre Ward/Sergey Kovalev showdown. With less than two weeks to go until fight night, an immediate decision had to be made. Franchon jumped at the chance and headed to Las Vegas. In hindsight, losing a four-round decision to Claressa Shields would be nothing compared to losing her Mom, who died two weeks later. 

Franchon has not tasted defeat since. Four fights after the fact, Crews-Dezurn would collect her first world title by winning a majority decision over Maricela Cornejo. Defeating Cornejo in more decisive fashion one year later, Franchon would additionally pick up the vacant WBO belt and eventually unify all the super-middleweight titles in a Madison Square Garden slugfest with WBA/IBF champion Elin Cederroos on the Taylor/Serrano card.  

“This is a pit stop on the road to my final destination,” Franchon audaciously said to Savannah Marshall’ face. “I’ve already made history. I’ve already helped push women’s boxing. Now it’s about legacy and respect.” Asked by The Gloves Are Off presenter and former cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson whether she thinks Savannah holds her in proper regard, Crews-Dezurn replied, “I feel like she respects me, but she’s gonna love me when we’re done.”

Franchon was sitting ringside for the Shields/Marshall fight last October, beckoning Savannah over just after the decision had been read aloud to challenge her to move up to 168 and see if she could fare any better trying to take her belts. Challenge accepted, Crews-Dezurn spent a portion of her training camp with Claressa Shields, not just for the benefit of getting in solid rounds for sparring but to talk strategy even if Shields affirmed afterwards, “I already feel like Franchon has enough, without my help, to beat Savannah Marshall, if I’m being honest.” The keys to success for Crews-Dezurn, according to Claressa, are to be in her best shape, keep her head in the game, and not be intimidated by the hostile crowd.  

“It’s going to be a long night for you,” Franchon said to Marshall through a Cheshire cat grin. “We fight for two different things. Because for me, even when I win I lose. When you lose, you get babysat.” 

The stakes are incredibly high for Marshall this Saturday. A second straight defeat on her home soil with an undisputed crown on the line likely relegates her to a perennial fringe contender or the even more lowly status of gatekeeper. Also hanging in the balance in Manchester is a sweepstakes ticket with Claressa Shields’ name on it for either Franchon or Savannah to cash, with the undisputed middleweight champion herself expressing a desire to fight the winner. 

The question is, where does that leave Shadasia Green? Boasting a perfect 12-0 record with only one of those fights–a six-round shutout of Irais Hernandez in 2019–lasting the full distance, Shadasia is shaping up to be this generation’s Ann Wolfe. It would not be impertinent to ask whether Green is being avoided the same way Wolfe was. All signs thus far point to “yes.” 

The New Jersey knockout artist and WBC Silver belt holder became Crews-Dezurn’s mandatory challenger by doing what Franchon couldn’t do–stop Elin Cederroos, which Shadasia did inside of six rounds on the Amanda Serrano/Erika Cruz undercard back in February. Despite the WBC ordering the Crews-Dezurn/Shadasia Green fight, Franchon was permitted to sidestep that mandate to take on Savannah Marshall instead. 

It all boils down to risk and reward, and there’s no arguing that Shadasia Green is the kind of risky proposition that could make Franchon flip her wig. Legacy building is an admirable endeavor, but only when you put yourself to the test against every known threat who can realistically strip that prestige down to the studs. First, Crews-Dezurn and Marshall have one another to contend with. An undisputed vs. undisputed super fight against Claressa Shields notwithstanding, Shadasia Green cannot be kept much longer from entering the equation she has already forced her way into. 

Saturday’s co-feature is a bit of a tangled web. Unified super-welterweight champion Natasha Jonas drops to 147 to compete for the vacant IBF welterweight title which the sanctioning body stripped from former undisputed titleholder Jessica McCaskill when she challenged for all the belts at 140 against Chantelle Cameron. Turnabout being fair play, Jonas was notified by the IBF that she too has been relieved of her 154-pound title for deciding to challenge for the welterweight belt, leaving her still in possession of the WBC and WBO straps. Unless she chooses to remain at 147, which she has hinted at being a viable option. This will be the second attempt to win the IBF welterweight title for Tasha’s opponent, Kandi ‘Krush’ Wyatt, who was stopped by McCaskill in 2021 with her then-complete collection of belts up for grabs. 

A late but welcome addition to the card will see super-welter prospect April Hunter run it back against Kirstie Bavington (7-4-2), who handed the 6-1 Hunter her only loss in October 2021. Bavington was most recently shut out by Lauren Price in a bid to become the first to wear the female version of the time-honored Lonsdale belt by virtue of winning the BBBofC British women’s welterweight championship. 

One-Punch KO Courtesy of Julissa Guzman Puts Ramla Ali Down for the Count in New Orleans

 

Prior to this past weekend, everything was looking up for Ramla Ali in 2023.  

In May, Ramla divulged the exciting news that Letitia Wright, best known for assuming the role of Shuri in the two Black Panther movies, would play her in a biographical film titled In the Shadows to be directed by BAFTA award winner Anthony Wonke (Fire in the Night and Unmasking Jihadi John).  

Before that, she unknowingly and inconceivably fought with a collapsed lung on the Serrano/Cruz undercard back in February, somehow summoning the stamina to outpoint previously undefeated Avril Mathie and capture her first professional championship. This led to an agreement in principle with Yamileth Mercado to challenge for her WBC super-bantamweight title by the end of this year.

Ali’s immediate hopes of world title contention came crashing down 33 seconds into the eighth round in New Orleans Saturday night, along with Ramla herself, courtesy of a left hook thrown by Julissa Alejandra Guzman that would have made Joe Frazier proud.

She had been preparing to contend with Guzman’s textbook Mexican walk-forward battle strategy by utilizing Sulem Urbina as her chief sparring partner throughout a particularly rigorous training camp. It also seemed to work to Ramla’s advantage that she is coached by Manny Robles who knows the Mexican boxing textbook backwards and forwards. Practicing for difficulties and dealing with them in real time during the heat of battle are two very different things, as Guzman made Ali learn the hard way.

A world title challenger who went into Saturday’s bout with a 12-2-2 (6 KOs) record, Guzman was a considerable step up in competition for Ali. Necessarily so, as she progresses in her climb toward the professional ranks’ elite level. For many, there will be setbacks on this sometimes slippery slope fraught with perilous obstacles. Julissa Guzman proved to be one such stumbling block for Ramla Ali. 

Guzman rebounded from a loss to Yolanda Vega in her 2015 pro debut to embark on a 13-fight unbeaten streak, which included a pair of draws and was halted by the aforementioned Yamileth Mercado in February 2021 to account for her only other defeat. 

Defending her IBF Intercontinental super-bantamweight title against Guzman in the second co-feature beneath the Regis Prograis/Danielito Zorrilla main event, Ramla started off well Saturday night by boxing behind her jab and sitting down on her power punches, a technique Manny Robles has been working with her diligently on. 

It was initially Guzman’s overhand right that was giving Ali problems. Julissa rocked Ali with it in round four and used her right again to force the Somali warrior down to the seat of her pants in her own corner with less than ten seconds left of the fifth, the first time to that point Ramla had been decked in her pro career. It wouldn’t be the last. 

Ali shook off the knockdown and recovered nicely, although Guzman made what would turn out to be a game-changing adjustment in rounds six and seven by making more liberal use of her left hook. Right after Ramla popped Guzman with a quick left/right combination at the 30 second mark of the eighth, the Mexican they call ‘La Roquera’ unleashed a left hook that deposited Ali flat on her back. Sitting up unsteadily and glassy-eyed, Ramla was unable to beat the ten count administered in what some have complained was rapid fashion by referee Keith Hughes. 

The victorious Guzman will look to leverage this victory over Ali into a potential rematch with Yamileth Mercado now that she has spoiled for Ramla the world title opportunity a win for her last weekend would have all but guaranteed.

Naturally, there will be critics and skeptics who will be happy to laugh Ramla Ali off as merely another Matchroom hype job. They will be quick to marginalize Ali by quipping that she is better off sticking to strutting down the runway of a fashion show in a Christian Dior dress rather than lacing up a pair of gloves and stepping between the ropes of a boxing ring.

First, why can she not do both? Secondly, I would remind these gloating naysayers that surviving through great adversity, and thriving not despite it but because of it, is what defines Ramla as a human being. Just as she persevered through the Somali civil war and endured the unbelievable hardships of her family’s escape from the bloodshed and butchery in overcrowded boats and refugee camps, so too will she overcome this stunning but in no way career-defining loss to learn, recalculate, and resume her pugilistic journey.

Earlier in the evening, 2020 Olympian and Team USA captain Ginny Fuchs improved her pro record to 3-0 by turning away the spirited challenge of Indeya 'Zucar' Rodriguez. The five-foot-tall New Orleans native brought the fight to Fuchs all night in this entertaining eight-rounder in the flyweight division but Ginny ultimately prevailed by scores of 80-72 (x2) and 79-73.   

It's the Same Old Song: Claressa Shields Makes Maricela Cornejo Dance to Her Tune in Motown to Retain Undisputed Title

 

As she proved once again in Detroit last night, when it comes to skill levels in the women’s 160-pound division, there’s Claressa Shields and then there’s everyone else. The Flint native is simply leagues above the rest and can make very good boxers look very average by comparison, just as she did against her latest challenger, Maricela Cornejo. 

Credit should be given to Cornejo for taking the fight on less than two weeks’ notice, and it must be pointed out that she was no idle contender coming off the couch but had been training for another upcoming bout and, therefore, ready to rise to the occasion.

Claressa nevertheless made retaining her undisputed middleweight title by scores of 100-90 (x2) and 100-89 look easy. It’s just unfortunate that a reported crowd of 11,784–a little more than half of Little Caesars Arena’s seating capacity–was on hand to witness the event.

Putting forth an extraordinary effort gives the illusion that Shields is having an ordinary day at the office, no cheap tricks required. Natural ability, a dedicated work ethic, and an unshakable belief in herself are the components that make Shields the complete fighter she is. The carnival barker-type ballyhoo she throws in free of charge. 

She couldn’t care less whether you like it or not. Or, for that matter, whether you like her or not. You might watch her fights to cheer her on to victory. You might tune in hoping to see her get her ass kicked. Either way, she’s got your attention locked in. That’s entertainment. 

Taking a cue from Motown legends The Four Tops, who serenaded the reigning and defending undisputed middleweight champion at the press conference and performed the National Anthem on fight night, Claressa dropped the needle on her own greatest hits record last night. Pumping her left jab at Cornejo in ones, twos, and threes, Shields not only established the rhythm they would dance to all night long but created openings for right hands that split her challenger’s guard or combinations in lightning-fast flurries. 

With Maricela fighting off the backfoot for almost the entire evening, Shields exhibited an expertise in cutting off the ring and keeping Cornejo within striking distance. A sharp lead left halfway through round two forced Cornejo to look up at the overhead lights, as did a straight right down the pike about fifteen seconds later.     

Maricela had limited success when taking the initiative to venture forward and force the action, paying a steep price for landing the occasional right hand by eating a succession of counterpunches on the way in. Shields played to the hometown crowd late in the fourth round, backing against the ropes and dropping her hands to clown Cornejo. Wise enough not to take the bait, Maricela backed up to center ring but was caught with another hard straight right regardless. 

Claressa was clearly in her groove and enjoying the moment for everything it was worth. It goes without saying that, to her, it was a lot. If any critique could be made in Shields’ performance, it would be her tendency to get over anxious in anticipation of a hopeful stoppage and load up on wildly looping overhand rights, the unwieldy momentum of which cause her to miss the mark more often than not. Taking the care to put a higher investment into body punches would present opportunities to land more meaningful, potentially evening-ending, shots upstairs.

John David Jackson gave Claressa this exact advice in her corner and she did slightly up the ante on her body attack in the later rounds, battering Cornejo from pillar to post in the closing moments of round eight and coming as close as she would get to putting her challenger on the deck.

Despite somewhat wobbly legs, Cornejo finished the fight on her feet and was grateful for the chance to share the ring with the female boxer she considers to be the greatest of all time. This is an opinion naturally shared by Claressa herself, who commended Maricela for being “smart and tough.” After all, they are both fighting for a common cause that goes beyond title belts.

It’s kind of like what The Four Tops sing in their 1988 hit, Indestructible: “There’s a power deep inside us. Ain’t no one that could ever divide us. We won’t fall, we’ll show ‘em all just what we’re made of.”