Alejandra Jimenez takes the belts away from Franchon Crews-Dezurn!
Unified female super middleweight champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn (6-1, 2KO) turned a career that started off on a bad note with her first pro loss to amateur rival turned three-division unified champion Claressa Shields into one that has placed her as a two-belt holder with only seven bouts!
However, when the announcement was made that she would face the undefeated power-puncher from Mexico, Alejandra Jimenez (12-0-1, 9KO), hardcore boxing fans knew this would be a difficult one for the champ! It’s not everyday you see a former heavyweight champion move down to super middleweight and seems to have gotten better!
Indeed it was! This fight was the manifestation of the term “rock ’em, sock ’em!'”
EXCITING BUT SLOPPY
From the opening bell, both women threw leather at an alarming rate and displayed absolutely zero defensive skill! What would follow after would be both women sucking wind! This would be the trend throughout with both women finding themselves hurt and staggered multiple times.
After the first half of the fight, Jimenez seemed to have more control over the slug-fest. She overcame a horrific first round that saw her hurt multiple times to turn the tables and keep the champ running into combinations. Furthermore, she just kept applying pressure.
As the bigger and stronger fighter, she kept Dezurn on her back-foot constantly. The constant movement and the want to “swing for the fences” coupled with her lack of conditioning, had the champ tired within the first minute of each round.
While she would land her share of shots (primarily due to the lack of defensive ability from Jimenez), the challenger clearly had the edge when observing the other three criteria for judging; effective aggression, accuracy and ring generalship!
Dezurn did, however, start to mount a comeback in the championship rounds. Jimenez was so hell bent on applying relentless pressure that she began running into some thudding shots. Fortunately for her, the champion is not known to produce much power or she would have surely been tasting canvas!
A CLEAR WINNER
As sloppy as this fight was, it seemed the winner was clear. However, the judges would be split. The scores of 97-93 x2 and 98-92 would birth a new super middleweight unified champion!
3kingsboxing.com scored this fight 96-94 for Jimenez!
In the post-fight interview, Jimenez made a surprising callout when asked what she would do next.
“I’m going to go to middleweight and get Claressa Shields!”
It is safe to say, that fight would be one Jimenez may not want to jump into so quickly!
By: EJ Williams
