Franchón Crews-Dezurn wanted to be the next Brandy. She envisioned singing alongside her girls as the next Destiny’s Child.
Her love of singing and her musical talent enabled her to perform at the US Boxing Championships in 2005. When she was done, she left the ring and headed backstage to change.
Not into her street clothes but rather into boxing trunks.
You see, Franchón wasn’t there solely to sing.
She was there to fight.
And on that night she won twice. First as the singer of the national anthem and then as the new middleweight champion.
What started as a quest to lose weight became a career. Now Franchón Crews-Dezum is poised to carry women’s boxing to the next level. This Saturday, she fights Elin Cederroos of Sweden on the Triller Fight Club card in Miami in a unified title fight she’s prepared her whole career for.
“I wanted to be a singer, but I was chubby and needed to lose weight,” said Franchón in an interview on WBCBoxing.com. “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.”
That attraction has produced a career to be proud of.
Fifteen national titles, four Pan American championships, and two world championship medals are just a few of the accomplishments that fill her boxing resume.
It’s a career that began when the Norfolk, Virginia native moved to Baltimore. That’s when life changed for the teenager.
Baltimore, Boxing and Change
While the move was a new beginning for Franchón, it didn’t start with a welcome mat and flowers.
Franchón was picked on for her “country” accent. That caused internal turmoil, bouts of depression, weight gain, and fights in school.
She was eventually kicked out and that’s when she knew she had to make a change.
Franchón was an athlete but needed more than basketball or softball. She needed something special to transform her and shift her away from the dark path she was on.
That’s when she found boxing. Not as a career but as a way to get in shape.
“I was doing it because it made me feel good,” Franchon told me in our interview.
Boxing became her vehicle of change. She learned, studied, and even sparred with the guys. This included Baltimore’s James Berry, a once-promising boxer Franchón deems a “hood hero.” Before his legal troubles, James was her first sparring partner and helped her forge a path in the sport.
From there, she quickly rose up the amateur ranks, winning titles annually.
“I always been a fighter,” said Crews-Dezurn to FanSided. “I was a tomboy, all brothers, and I used to fight boys and girls. So fighting wasn’t new to me, but to actually pursue boxing was.”
In 2012, she had her sights on making the US Olympic team. With her strong amateur background and proven abilities, it seemed attainable.
But she came up short. It was a moment that haunted her.
“The darkest moment [for me] was coming up short in the first Olympic trial in 2012,” she told me. “My Olympic dream was crushed.”
It was a painful moment. A time where she experienced self-doubt and felt that many turned against her.
Yet instead of dwelling on heartache, she pressed on. She won two more national titles in 2013 and 2015. A year later, an opportunity presented itself in the form of Claressa Shields.
Franchón the Pro
This past weekend, Shields won her debut MMA fight, adding more weight to her claim of being the GWOAT. But five years ago, Shields was a decorated amateur boxer who made history as Team USA’s only two-time Olympic boxing gold medalist.
While Franchón still had dreams of making the Olympic team, she knew it was time to take the next step in her decorated career.
The two fighters faced each other as amateurs and were at the same point in their careers, so their November 19th, 2016 bout was a natural next step. After four rounds in their Super Middleweight contest, the pro debut for both boxers, Shields won by unanimous decision. That left her at 1-0 and Franchón at 0-1.
For Franchón, that loss told her something she needed to know.
She could do this.
She could be a professional fighter.
Franchón fought three more times, winning all three before getting her first title shot. On September 13, 2019, a 3-1 Franchón faced Maricela Cornejo (12-2) for the WBC Super Middleweight Title. After 10 rounds, Franchón won the belt by majority decision. It was more than her first title win though.
It was a moment for her mother.
When Franchón was climbing the ranks, grinding out wins across the country and in countries like Mexico and Argentina, her mother was fighting for her life after she was robbed. She remained in the hospital for a long period of time in serious condition. But she fought her way back to health and after some time, she finally returned home.
Franchón’s tone immediately softened as she talked about her mother.
It was her mother’s fight that motivated Franchón to press on. Her first belt gave the once bullied teenager her greatest moment in the sport, but her mother’s fight against death fueled Franchón’s fight in the ring
Her mother passed away less than a month after her hard-hitting battle against Claressa Shields (December 7th, 2016). Although she wasn’t there to see her daughter win the title, the championship was what Franchón called a “full circle moment” for her mother.
It helped ease some of the pain she experienced after her mother’s passing but I could tell that pain was still raw inside for the WBC champion.
Franchón The Heavy Hitting Diva
A year after defeating Cornejo, the two fighters faced off again, this time for the WBC and WBO Super Middleweight titles. Franchón earned a unanimous decision victory over Cornejo in their ten-round title bout. She was 6-1 and ranked as one of the top fighters in the world.
But during her ascent she did more than just fight.
Franchón was building her brand. She promoted, managed, handled her own social media, and acted as her personal fashion designer, creating her own fighting outfits. Ultimately she signed with Golden Boy to help guide her career. But she maintains control over her future, both as a fighter and a wife.
In 2012, Franchón married fellow boxer Glenn Dezum. They were sparing partners first. Now they have a fighting household, one which lives through boxing. They are more than husband and wife. They are training partners, promoters, managers, and motivators for each other.
“I’m grateful that we have a full relationship,” said Franchón.
It’s a relationship that works because of boxing.
“When he fights, I’m in beast mode. And when I fight, it’s visa-versa,” she told me.
“Boxing is our language of love.”
Boxing is her career and it’s something she cares deeply about. It’s part of her household and marriage. Her love for the sport, and women’s boxing in particular, is the reason why she joined the Board of Team USA. To help the sport and to help the women of the sport get their just due.
“Since the amateurs, it’s been one of my jobs to get women paid.”
Before the pandemic shutdown, Franchón took on Alejandra Jimenez in January of 2020 in a brutal ten-round championship fight. In the end, Jimenez was declared the winner and new champion.
Franchón was devastated yet she knew something was terribly wrong. She had taken harder punches than she ever experienced before.
She felt like she was fighting for her very life in the ring that night.
“I’ve been hit by strong men (and) the power wasn’t like a man; it wasn’t like a woman, it was different,” she said at the time. “In the second round, I actually got hurt for the first time in my whole career — amateur pro — it’s terrifying.”
A few months later, her feelings were validated when Jimenez tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol. Officials declared the bout a no-decision and Franchón retained her belts.
After a year long wait, she earned a unanimous decision over Ashley Curry this past January. It wasn’t her best performance but she told me that will change come Saturday night in her Triller fight.
“This will be my coming out party,” said Franchón. “I’m surrendering to the grind and sharpening my tools.”
With the WBC, WBO, IBF and WBA titles on the line, fans should expect fireworks from the champ.
“I’ve always done it big,” said The Heavy Hitting Diva.
Franchón Crews-Dezurn is now 7-1 with 2 KOs and she’s a recognized and respected powerhouse in the sport.
She sparred with the likes of Gary Russell Jr. She fought on the undercard of Ryan Garcia’s big fight against Luke Campbell. Fighters like Teofimo Lopez have given her props.
Franchón is one of the best in the business and continues doing what she loves. She still sings, writes songs, and designs her fight outfits. Now that she’s 33 and about to fight in, arguably, the biggest fight in her life, I asked her what she would tell her younger Franchón Crews-Dezurn.
“Believe in yourself. Trust your dopeness,” she told me. “People might not get you, but be you boo.”
Baltimore birthed great fighters like Hasim Rahman and Gervonta “Tank” Davis. Franchón “The Heavy Hitting Diva” Crews-Dezurn should be added to that list of boxing greats.
Come Saturday, you’ll all agree.
