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.
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