It was a career ago when Franchon Crews-Dezurn and Claressa Shields first met.
Both were making their pro debuts in November 2016 on the undercard of the first bout between Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward. Shields was coming off winning her second Olympic gold medal. Crews-Dezurn had a good amateur background herself but took the loss that evening, dropping a four-round shutout decision.
Since then? Well, Shields went on to win a pair of world titles at super middleweight; became the undisputed champion at middleweight, junior middleweight and then middleweight again; moved up to light heavyweight to nab a belt and is now the undisputed heavyweight champion.
Crews-Dezurn later became the undisputed queen of 168 before losing the crown to Savannah Marshall. Marshall was stripped of the WBA and WBC belts, which Crews-Dezurn has since regained. (Marshall subsequently lost the IBF and WBO titles to Shadasia Green last July.)
Crews-Dezurn, 10-2 (2 KOs), a 38-year-old from Baltimore, will be heading up to heavyweight to challenge Shields, 17-0 (3 KOs). Their rematch is scheduled for February 22 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, about an hour from Shields’ hometown of Flint, Michigan. Their bout will stream on DAZN.
“It’s gonna be different because I had time to train,” Crews-Dezurn said in a video posted by FightHype. “When I fought her the first time, I only had two and a half weeks.”
Crews-Dezurn is coming off a majority decision last June over the 4-1 Citlalli Ortiz.
“My last fight is one of the worst fights I ever had,” Crews-Dezurn said. “I had a sprained ankle, plantar fasciitis and then bullshit happening behind the scenes.
Crews-Dezurn acknowledged that Shields will also be different in 2026 than she was in 2016, given the experience that the 30-year-old self-proclaimed GWOAT has accumulated since.
“She’s gotten more comfortable as a pro,” Crews-Dezurn said.
The two fighters shared a ring in the interim – and not too long ago, at that.
“We actually sparred last year,” Crews-Dezurn said. “She wanted me to come to her camp as she made her transition to heavyweight to work with her, which was cool.”
Crews-Dezurn is aware that Shields was also using those sparring sessions as an opportunity to scout her for a potential future clash. That didn’t give her any pause, though.
“Work is work,” she said. “Why wouldn't I want to work with one of the top fighters?”
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
