Franchon Crews-Dezurn, Claressa Shields don't see reason rivalry can't grow to Ali-Frazier level

The stakes are high in each bout, with the undisputed middleweight champion, Shields, attempting to snatch the vacant WBC/WBO junior middleweight titles and become the quickest in boxing history — male or female — to be crowned a three-division world champ. Crews-Dezurn, meanwhile, is defending her WBC/WBO super middleweight unified championship.

The back-to-back, one-two punch from Shields and Crews-Dezurn this weekend adds another robust chapter to their intertwined history. That history dates back to the amateurs and their pro debuts, which they made against each other in November 2016, when Shields defeated Crews-Dezurn by unanimous decision in a four-round war.

“The universe has its way of working things out,” Crews-Dezurn told DAZN News. “We went pro, I came up short. Fast forward three years later, she’s headlining on a major network, I’m co-main eventing on a major network. That’s crazy and it’s going to create opportunities for other women.”

Both Crews-Dezurn (6-1, 2 KOs) and Shields (9-0, 2 KOs) welcome another crack at each other down the line, with each champion using Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier as an ideal ceiling they could reach in a rematch and their overall rivalry.

“I always reference some of the older generation like Ali and Frazier or even a healthy competition like Serena and Venus (Williams),” Crews-Dezurn added. “At the end of the day, we’re going to look back and be like, ‘Yo, we set the world on fire!’”

Shields agrees, but adds that the money has to be there for the rivals with mutual respect to step back into the ring with each other.

“You gotta pay us to make that happen because that’s a Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier kind of fight, for sure,” Shields told DN earlier in the week. “That’s probably the most dangerous fight for myself because I’ve been in the ring with her so many times. Girls who I beat, quit boxing, they go away. It’s like, she stays. She can handle it.

“You talk about going 10 rounds with Franchon Crews and having me in there — two women warriors go at it — you’re not gonna pay us chump change for that,” Shields continued. “Pay us for what you guys want to see. If that’s $1 million, $2 million, whatever, but for us to have that fight happen and she got two world titles at 168 and I got all the titles at 160, we could definitely make it work.”

Well before they made their pro debuts against each other, Shields and Crews-Dezurn were scrapping it out as amateurs. And when they weren’t doing that, they were sparring with each other to help steel sharpen steel in preparation for national and world tournaments.

And then came their Nov. 16, 2016 pro debuts from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. With the familiarity there, four rounds of give-and-take, hard-hitting action ensued.

“We went four rounds of war, no headgear,” said Shields, who still regards Crews-Dezurn as her toughest opponent yet. “I say my hardest because it’s hard to fight someone you’ve already been in the ring with. And we had fought three, four times in the amateurs. And then to come and have our pro debuts against each other, now we got smaller gloves, no headgear and we’re in Vegas, where you can’t breathe down there!"

While Shields had her hand raised in victory that night, Crews-Dezurn didn’t view the defeat as a blemish on her ledger. Only as a valuable experience.

“I never looked at that like a loss,” Crews-Dezurn said. “It was a close fight, but it was beautiful to experience with somebody I’ve already created history with in the past.”

Both left the ring that night with even more mutual respect in tow. To this day, Shields will say that no pro opponent has rocked her harder and that includes, Hanna Gabriel, who knocked her down before the Flint, Mich. native pulled out the unanimous decision win in June 2018.

“No other fight have I felt so sore and my face is stinging and stuff after except for a fight with Franchon,” Shields admitted. “She just was like a girl who would not back down. I hit her with some hard shots — right hands, hooks, uppercuts. I mean, we hit each other with some bombs and we both just kept going at each other.

“That’s gonna be my toughest fight until somebody else could do that,” Shields continued, “and I haven’t experienced that in my nine fights except for my first fight with her.”

Both fighters used the bout as a springboard to sweet science success. Shields, 24, became a unified super middleweight champion in just her fourth pro fight back in August 2017. Last year, she became the undisputed middleweight world champion — just the second woman in boxing history to achieve the feat. A win over Habazin on Friday night would make her the quickest boxer ever to become a three-division world champ, as Vasiliy Lomachenko knotted the accomplishment in 11 fights.

Crews-Dezurn hasn’t done shabby, either, considering she became a super middleweight world champion in her fifth pro fight back in August 2018. A unanimous decision victory over Maricela Cornejo last September made her a unified world titleholder, sparking this memorable post-fight decree, live on DAZN.

It has been a rough road amidst the long climb up the ranks, as Crews-Dezurn, 32, lost her mother in December 2016 and has been fighting with her spirit in mind and heart ever since.

“My mother passed away on December 7 (2016), so the end of November and December are very hard for me,” she said. “I think, this is my first time fighting in this time period.”

It’s a safe bet that Crews-Dezurn and Shields will be watching each other’s fight from a distance this weekend or at least eventually get around to doing so. Not only because there’s mutual respect between the two, but because they feel like an Ali-Frazier level of rivalry can be tapped and they want to grab that.

“We love each other, but we study each other at the same time just in case down the line, a big opportunity comes for us,” Shields offered.

Crews-Dezurn echoed a similar sentiment.

“As much as (Shields) raises her level, I say, ‘Ok, I gotta raise my level,’” she said, “and continue growing because she honestly sets the standard.”