DETROIT – Undisputed Heavyweight World Champion Claressa Shields and Unified Super Middleweight World Champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn exchanged verbal blows during a pre-fight press conference on Jan. 23 at the Detroit Auto Show.
The unique press event ahead of their Feb. 22 clash was open to members of the media and the public as a way to bring the fight promotion directly to the people of Detroit.
Recommended Videos
The press conference heard remarks from Shields, Crews-Dezurn, Head of Salita Promotions Dmitriy Salita, CEO of Wynn records Ruben Branson, rapper Papoose and sports media personality Ronnie Duncan.
After a brief face-off on the Bedrock Stage, Shields and Crews-Dezurn participated a heated war of words throughout the press conference.
“Claressa, I’m glad we get to talk because I know you’ve been doing a lot of talking on the internet,” said Crews-Dezurn. “You know I love you down but we got to call a spade a spade, and call it how we see it. Because I’ve never seen somebody complain about being the A-side. I’ve been super middleweight my whole career except one fight during COVID. To say that I’ve been ducking or I wouldn’t put my belts up to fight you is ludicrous when I’ve been here the whole time.”
“Y’all don’t want to fight me at 168,” said Shields. “Why am I 175 if I can get a fight at 168?”
“Y’all are soft and didn’t want to fight me.”
Crews-Dezurn emphasized the hard road it took for her to achieve becoming a world champion.
“I didn’t need you to become a champion,” said Crews-Dezurn. “You needed me and we worked together. So when you do speak about me, make sure you speak proper because I’m always going to be right there.”
Tensions flared as Crews-Dezurn sought to clear up rumors that she may try to lose the fight on purpose for a bigger purse.
“Y’all are going to stop playing with me to insinuate that I wouldn’t ever throw a fight,” said Crews-Dezurn. “The bag is not big enough. Let me clear that up, I worked for every opportunity, every dollar I get is because I work hard for it. You’re not giving me my biggest payday, this is an opportunist fight because when I take your belts, then I’ll get my biggest payday. You’re not going to sit up here like you’re my savior because you’re not.”
“February 22nd I’m f***ing you up,” Shields interrupted.
Shields spoke at the podium expressing her urgency in training as she is not overlooking Crews-Dezurn.
“I got to thank Salita Promotions, thank Wynn Records, I’m still going to thank Franchon because she is a hell of a fighter and that’s why I’ve been training two or three times a day because I know what I’m up against so I’m not taking her lightly.”
Shields recounted her accomplishments in becoming one of the greatest boxers of all time and progressing women’s boxing as a whole.
“I have put in a lot of work in my career and there were no shortcuts and there were no gimmicks,” said Shields.
“USA Boxing paid me the same purse as the men so I will come back and represent them way before the Olympics. 2012 I wasn’t getting paid like the men but they wanted me to come back for 2016 and I said why are then men getting paid $3000 and they’ve lost every tournament, and I’ve won every tournament and I’m still getting paid 1,000 dollars. That doesn’t make sense. ‘If you guys want me to come back pay me and all the girls on team USA the same as you pay the men.’”
“I’m the reason any woman got paid before you even came,” said Crews-Dezurn. “Thank you for pushing it forward but I’m the reason women got paid anything for their medals.”
As Shields rattled off her long list of accomplishments including 19 world championships and world titles in five different weight classes, Crews-Dezurn interjected saying Shields had the better support and backing, which allowed her to achieve such accomplishments.
“You’ve got a promoter, you got the backing, I’m out here like a mixtape rapper,” said Crews-Dezurn. “That’s how I had to hustle but that’s cool, Beyoncé.”
Shields expressed reluctance to fight Crews-Dezurn in their pro debuts due to their good relationship as amateurs and her belief that they would be able to meet later down the line for a super fight.
“I told her I didn’t want to fight our pro debuts,” said Shields. “We went zero and 38 opponents for me to get a pro debut. I said ‘we’re going to find somebody. Do not sign the contract. I don’t want to fight you our pro debuts.’ Why? Because we are the Laila Ali-Ann Wolf fight that never happened and we can make millions fighter each other down the line.”
“I’m not going to smack Franchon,” said Shields. “Come on now, but come February 22nd I’m going to punch her hard as —. It’s going to be bad.”
After the press conference Shields answered a question from Local 4’s Isaiah Hall on if the fight is an opportunity to showcase an even greater level of her skills like the Shields vs. Marshall fight in 2022.
“Savannah Marshall is a giant,” said Shields. “She had no business fighting at 168. That girl’s huge. We got in the ring I was 172 fight night, she was 195 or something like that.”
“I beat Savannah Marshall pretty easy. Her skill-wise was just not up there. Only she had was her size and her punching power but I was able to withstand that, get the W and win eight out of 10 rounds. With that, I know Franchon is way more craftier than Savannah Marshall and she got sneaky power. It may not be power that you see all the time but she throw a shot sometimes and it lands and then you go ‘oh that was the one she tried to take me out of here with. So you got to really watch Franchon she got more experience and if you ask me, I think she’s a better boxer than Savannah Marshall but Savannah Marshall just has that size over everybody which makes her punching power very dangerous but she wasn’t able to knock neither one of us.”
Shields and Crews-Dezurn’s clash for the Undisputed Heavyweight World Title takes place on Feb. 22 at Little Caesars Arena.