Claressa Shields Settles 10-Year Rivalry with Dominant Performance
Franchon Crews-Dezurn entered the ring at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Sunday looking for a different result than in her 2016 debut fight, a loss to a woman who was on her way to an undefeated mark over the next decade. Unfortunately for Crews-Dezurn, the passing of time wouldn’t bring a different outcome.
Instead, Claressa Shields easily defended her undisputed title in the women’s heavyweight division in a lopsided dismantling of Crews-Dezurn, her onetime friend and longtime rival in the sport. At the end of the bout’s 10, two-minute rounds, the judges handed down a unanimous 100-90 decision in Shields’ favor, meaning the champion won every round on every scorecard.
Fans in the largely pro-Shields crowd (she originally hails from Flint, Mich.) didn't need to wait for a decision to know the outcome. Except for the very early rounds, where Crews-Dezurn made earnest attempts to come forward and keep Shields fighting off her back foot, there weren’t many good moments for the challenger. By the fifth round, Crews-Dezurn looked gassed, her output, footwork and head movement slowed.
Shields, on the other hand, never stepped off the gas, meeting her opponent’s every pawing jab or power shot with a flurry of punches. According to Compubox, Shields more than doubled Crews-Dezurn’s output and was nearly twice as accurate, landing 226 punches out of 554 thrown, compared with 106 landed out of 433 thrown for Crews-Dezurn.
Crews-Dezurn, 38, now holds a 10-3 professional record. She still holds the WBC World Super Middleweight championship. Shields, 30, now moves to 18-0 and retains her WBC, WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles.