Claressa Shields
made it 2-0 against Franchon Crews-Dezurn in Detroit this evening, outclassing “The Heavy-Hitting Diva” to retain her undisputed heavyweight titleCrews-Dezurn (10-3, 2 KO), who suffered a clean sweep at Shields’ (18-0, 3 KO) hands in both their professional debuts, bet it all on an early blitz and actually found a bit of success as Shields knuckled down and traded heat. The chip on Shields’ shoulder prompted her to continue the slugfest for the better part of two rounds, but once
she settled down and Crews-Dezurn began to tire, it was one-way traffic. Shields’ speed, combination punching, refusal to surrender the clinch, and overall craft were way too much for Crews-Dezurn.
Around the sixth, it looked as though Shields might actually get a stoppage through accumulation, but her complete lack of power kept Crews-Dezurn in the fight just enough to last the distance.
As with all modern Shields fight, the question of what’s left looms large. Unless she boils herself back down to 154, the only real opponent left for her is Shadasia Green, against whom she’d be a prohibitive favorite. As always, she’s too big and the pond is too small.
Shields vs Crews-Dezurn 2 scorecards
All three judges returned clean sweeps of 100-90 for “The GWOAT.”
Shields vs Crews-Dezurn 2 highlights
Undercard results
- Light heavyweight Atif Oberlton picked up a bizarre TKO win over Joe George Jr. After an uneventful first round, George suddenly lost consciousness while sitting on his stool, remaining on the mat for a worrying amount of time before waking up. Replays suggested a delayed reaction from a potential clash of heads, but officials ultimately gave Oberlton the stoppage win.
- Former Shields victim Danielle Perkins bounced back in a big way with an upset finish of WBA light heavyweight champ Che Kenneally. Perkins seemed to have Kenneally’s number early, bouncing back from a competitive first round to sweep the next two with raw aggression, but bizarrely decided to showboat rather than press the advantage. This gave Kenneally plenty of room to get her sharp counter game going and put her up on my scorecard going into the second half of the fight, only for Perkins to crumple her with a right hook in the sixth. While Kenneally beat the count, the ref swiftly waved things off, perhaps swayed by the nasty cut to the mouth Kenneally suffered on impact.
- 29-year-old heavyweight Pryce Taylor made the most of a 50-pound weight advantage to beat down James Evans in a fun five-round scrap. Disdaining head movement or footwork more nuanced than “one foot in front of the other,” Taylor simply walked through Evans’ constant jabs and occasional looping rights to pepper him with heavy arm punches to the head and body. Evans tried to knuckle down and trade when it was clear he couldn’t win off the back foot, but was held up by the ropes from a body shot in the fourth, then clubbed down with a looping right for another knockdown soon after. Taylor kept the pressure on and sent him to a knee early in the following round, forcing the ref into action.
