Interview with Franchón Crews-Dezurn
Franchón Crews-Dezurn (B: Virginia, USA, 1987) is the WBC and WBO super middleweight champion, plus a clothing designer, and to stay sharp, she will be back in the ring on January 2nd, as a backup for Luke Campbell-Ryan Garcia.
She has spoken with ESPABOX about her brilliant amateur career, her titles as a professional and her next bout:
Hello, Franchón. How do you feel? A curiosity to start with, where does your name come from?
Hello, a pleasure. All good, there is little left to fight again. It is a name of French origin.
How did you become interested in our sport?
I wanted to be a singer, but I was chubby and needed to lose weight. What happens is that over time I was attracted to boxing, as it was a major challenge for me, and I ended up getting deeper and deeper into it.
As an amateur boxer, you had a brilliant career and represented your country in various international tournaments. How can you summarize it?
It can be defined in fifteen national titles, four Pan American championships and two medals in world championships, among other things. It wasn’t bad at all.
How do you make the decision to move into professional boxing?
Interesting! My goal, after not being able to qualify before, was to reach the 2020 Olympic Games, but suddenly an offer came to me to fight in professionals with Claressa Shields, with whom I had already faced in the national pre-Olympics. So even though it wasn’t the idea, getting that opportunity changed my mind about it.
After converting to pro boxing in 2016, you’ve only fought in the following years twice a year, obviously excluding what happened in 2020. Have you wanted to measure your career or would you rather have been more active?
I was my own promoter until I was able to sign with Golden Boy Promotions in 2019, so for many reasons it was difficult to find fights with continuity until then. I would have liked to fight more often, yes.
Your battles against Maricela Cornejo fulfilled your dream of being a world champion, first with the WBC and then unifying with the WBO. What remains for someone in the world of boxing after that, is it possible to maintain the level of ambition?
Not only that, it is even something that makes you want to move on to become a total champion, undisputed. Being at the top motivates you and makes you want even more; I would like to make history by being the first person to hold all the belts as part of Golden Boy, the company of Oscar de la Hoya. Because I also feel that they believe in women and women’s boxing.
Earlier this year, you fought, defending your titles against Alejandra Jiménez. There was a split decision against you, but she tested positive for doping control. How did you live that process?
I felt, beyond the combat and the sports part, cheated, and then attacked by many places including the subsequent process. Sport always has to chase cheats and have a consequence, because it is something that must represent cleanliness and integrity. I am very grateful to all the fans who showed their support and to my husband, who helped me at all times to reveal the truth.
Perhaps the most difficult part is that, while on top of the ring your performance depends on you, in a process outside of boxing you did not know what would happen?
Without a doubt, I did not have the final decision in my hands and that was not easy.
Finally the result of the match was changed to “No Contest” and you were again accepted as champion of both organizations. For the rest of the year, we already know that the pandemic has prevented normal boxing activity. You will have a huge desire to get into the ring?
I am excited to be able to return to sports normality after this dramatic experience that we have lived and continue to live. I hope we all get better out of this and my boxing too. I want to make it clear that I am the champion and show it in the ring.
What can you tell us about your fight on January 2?
It’s going to be an untitled match up in order to take away the inactivity and have big dates soon. The promoter will give all the details soon.
You have been on the undercard of some great events such as Jaime Munguía matches. Apart from being the undisputed champion as you told me, could it be one of your dreams to be the headliner? Last month it was shown with Matchroom that three women’s matches can headline a grand gala.
Yes, I would love to be indisputable, but also other things like simply that women can also fight the best against the best, as you say. That is good for sports in general, and women in particular. We put heart, passion, we can also entertain the public. And as a personal dream, since you ask me, I would love to be able to fight on the same card as my husband, Glenn Dezurn.
Finally, we would like you to send a message to the Spanish speaking fans. We will have the opportunity to follow the evening of January 2 on DAZN and, hopefully, be able to see your fight.
(In very acceptable Spanish) I hope you can watch my upcoming fight on DAZN and put on a good show. Thanks for the support.
And at this point in the interview, are you telling us that you speak Spanish so well? How is it possible?
(Laughs for a few seconds) I have learned it fighting in countries like Mexico or Venezuela during my long amateur career, to interact with the people of those places.
Well, good luck on your next fight.
Interview conducted by Darío Pérez and published in:
https://www.espabox.com/franchon-crews-dezurn-campeona-del-mundo-cantante-y-disenadora-en-espabox/
