Franchon Crews and Others Moving the Needle Forward and More News

Female Fight News Sept. 17, 2018 Moving the Needle Forward

 

By David A. Avila

A few battles over vacant titles took place: one was held in Germany while another occurred in Las Vegas over the weekend.

Franchon “Heavy Hitting Diva” Crews won the vacant WBC super middleweight world title by majority decision over Maricela “La Diva” Cornejo in a 10 round contest at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Crews did what she needed and won the world title with a hunger and determination that couldn’t be denied at the Las Vegas casino.

“I said before that it may not be pretty but I do what I have to do to win,” said Crews whose coaches were shouting instructions throughout and upset at times for her not listening. “They wouldn’t let me sit down at the end of one round.”

But she got it done against Cornejo who had a three-fight knockout streak.

Several months ago the Maryland-based fighter was near the brink of falling out of boxing completely. Though training at full speed several agreed upon fights disintegrated at the last minute leaving her wondering if boxing was worth the pain, financial struggle and emotional distress after plans suddenly went smoke.

“I was supposed to fight in early January, April, it kept getting canceled. After the last one in June I thought its sink or swim,” said Crews. “Nobody else is going to believe in you than you believe in yourself.”

Despite being without a promoter, somehow she got the call to face Cornejo. Both women had been drifting in the female boxing world looking for an opportunity to fight in front of a national audience. They got it last Thursday as ESPN showed the world title fight live. It had been 14 years since a female world title bout was shown by the TV network.

“I asked to fight her. I pursued that bout. I just want to thank her and Golden Boy because it not only gives two fighters an opportunity, but to show it on an amazingly big stage and it’s a great look for female boxing,” said Crews.

Now the 31-year-old Crews has the WBC strap and things are looking up. After losing her pro debut to Claressa Shields in 2016, the former American Idol participant thought it might open doors to get noticed. Though she did get solid reviews for her effort that night, nothing beats winning a world title before a televised audience.

“I know the mission I’m on: there are other fighters like me that have the talent that don’t have the opportunity,” said Crews. “I’m a person that believes everything happens for a reason.”

Lightweights

Austria’s Nicole Wesner (14-0) takes on Dominican Republic’s Lina Tejada (11-5) for several lightweight title belts on Saturday in Vienna. Meanwhile, in southern Texas, a pair of undefeated lightweights battle with Selina Barrios meeting Patricia Juarez for the NABF lightweight title also on Saturday.

With Ireland’s Katie Taylor looking to defend her world title next month these are several lightweight contenders worthy of noting.

Wesner, 41, hasn’t fought any top tier lightweights but has clashed with some decent 135-pounders like Gina Chamie and Diafana Salazar and knocked them out. Her opponent Tejada has only been stopped once and that was six years ago to Amanda Serrano. This is an interesting test for the Austrian.

In the U.S. another lightweight battle pits Texas girl Barrios whose last fight was a knockout win over Kazakhstan’s Aida Satybaldinova. Now she fights Juarez the sister of Mexico’s Mariana and Lourdes Juarez. How good is Patricia?

Super Flyweights

Speaking of Amanda Serrano, she mentioned on social media over the weekend, an interest to fight Raja Amasheh (22-1-1) who was the winner by decision over Peru’s Linda Lecca (13-4-2) last Saturday in Germany.

Serrano just recently won a sixth division world title by decision two weeks ago against Argentina’s Yamila Reynoso. Now she’s gunning for a seventh against Amasheh. But hold on.

In Japan, Naoko Fujioka won the WBA flyweight world title against Mexico’s Irma Sanchez by decision in Tokyo.

Fujioka has five division world titles and called thePrizefighters.com to say she has tremendous interest in meeting Serrano at the super flyweight division in a battle between pound for pound best.

The Prizefighters.com ranks both Serrano and Fujioka in the top five of our rankings. Fujioka already has won a super flyweight world title which is missing from Serrano’s treasure chest.

Though Fujioka is now 43, she easily showed her abilities by defeating Mexico’s tough Sanchez this Saturday. Sanchez has a win over Irma “La Roca” Zamora who was recently ranked among the top females pound for pound lists and California’s Carina Moreno.

Japan’s Fujioka has not slowed down at all and is very similar to Bernard Hopkins in that her age means nothing. She is still a very dangerous and motivated fighter and would love to fight Puerto Rico’s Serrano especially if it means fighting in America.

“I respect Amanda Serrano as a fighter a lot. She is so strong physically that she can make endless offense. I’ve never seen her as a rival before because she has fought around bigger weight divisions. But if she is interested in fighting with me, I am happy with that,” said Fujioka who has won world titles from minimum weight to bantamweight. “First of all, I really want to fight in the U.S. If Amanda versus me would come true in America, it is going to be big deal in female boxing and it can draw huge attention, I believe. She has six division titles, I have five, so.  But again, first of all, I would like to fight in America first, no matter against who.”

Sounds like a mega fight to me.

 

Other Female Fight News

Argentina

Gabriela Alaniz (2-0) defeated Aixa Adema (2-1-1) by unanimous decision after four rounds on Saturday Sept. 15. The super flyweight match took place at Merlo, Buenos Aires.

Jorgelina Guanini (9-1-1) upset Debora Dionicius (28-1) by split decision after 10 rounds on Friday Sept. 14. The win gives Guanini the IBF super flyweight world title that Dionicius had held since 2012. The world title match was held in Concordia. The new champion is 26 and fights out of Buenos Aires.

Yanina Orozco (4-0) scored a knockout victory over Roxana Laborde (8-20-3) in the second round on Friday Sept. 14. The super welterweight contest took place in Mendoza.

On Friday Sept. 21, bantamweights Daniela Rivero (6-1) and Liliana Silva (4-5-1) meet in a six round fight at Rafael Calzada, Buenos Aires.

 

Australia

Jessica Retallack (1-0) knocked out Ratsadaporn Khiaosopa (0-10) in the first round on Saturday Sept. 15. The super featherweight match was held in Brisbane.

 

Austria

On Saturday Sept. 22, lightweights Nicole Wesner (14-0) and Lina Tejada (11-5) of Dominican Republic meet in a 10 round clash for the GBU, WIBF and WBF lightweight world titles at Vienna.

 

Belgium

Femke Hermans (9-1) defeated Ester Konecna (1-8-1) by decision after six rounds on Saturday Sept. 15. The super middleweight fight was held at Alsemburg. Hermans, 28, holds the WBO world title.

 

Canada

On Saturday Sept. 22, featherweights Madison Blakely (0-1) and Britain’s Delores Garcia (2-1) meet in a four round fight at Oshawa, Ontario.

 

Chile

On Saturday Sept. 22, super flyweights Daniela Asenjo (7-2-2) and Carlota Santos (7-5-5) meet in an eight round clash at San Francisco de Mostazal.

 

Czech Republic

On Saturday Sept. 22, minimum weights Fabiana Bytyqi (13-0) and Denise Castle (2-1) meet in a 10 round title fight at Usti Nad Labem.

 

Denmark

Sarah Mahfoud (6-0) knocked out Vanessa Caballero (1-4-1) in the fourth round on Saturday Sept. 15. The featherweight bout took place at Copenhagen.

 

Germany

Raja Amasheh (22-1-1) was the winner by decision over Peru’s Linda Lecca (13-4-2) on Friday Sept. 14. Amasheh, 36, retains the WBO super flyweight world title. The match took place in Karlsruhe.

 

Hungary

Kinga Magyar (5-4) defeated Ksenija Medic (0-10-1) by decision after four rounds on Saturday Sept. 15. The welterweight fight took place at Oroshaza.

Cintia Cenjel (4-0) was the winner by knockout in the first round versus Radana Knezevic (2-6) on Sunday Sept. 9. The light flyweight bout took place in Budapest. Also, a super featherweight match saw Carina Greimel (2-1-1) knockout Zorana Jakovlevic (0-1) in the first round. Plus, Biana Nagy (2-2) knocked out Szilvia Raffael (0-2) in round one of a welterweight match.

 

Japan

Naoko Fujioka (18-2) defeated Mexico’s Irma Sanchez (30-8-1) by unanimous decision after 10 rounds on Friday Sept. 14. The WBA flyweight world title match was held in Tokyo. Fujioka, 43, has won five division world titles. Sanchez, 30, is a former WBC silver titlist who fights out of Guadalajara and has a win over Ibeth Zamora who has a win over Ava Knight.

 

Mexico

On Saturday Sept. 22, light flyweights Esmeralda Moreno (35-10-2) and Yesenia Gomez (13-5-3) meet for the vacant WBC light flyweight world title at Cancun. This is a rematch of a fight that took place last May that ended in a draw.

On Saturday Sept. 22, flyweights Arely Mucino (26-3-2) and Maria Salinas (19-6-3) meet for the WBO flyweight world title at Monterrey.

 

New Zealand

On Saturday Sept. 22, super middleweights Lani Daniels (3-1) and Tessa Tualevao (0-5) meet in an eight round contest at Cambridge.

 

Russia

On Friday Sept. 21, super middleweights Viktoria Shvalova and Tamara Otyrgasheva make their pro debuts against each other at Irkutsk.

 

Spain

On Saturday Sept. 22, flyweights Cristina Garrobo (4-0) and Viktorija Simonova (0-0) meet in a six round fight at Villarubia de Santiago.

 

South Africa

On Friday Sept. 21, super lightweights Bonita Van Jaarsveld (3-1-1) and Sarah Achieng (11-2) meet in a six round bout at Brakpan.

 

United Kingdom

Nina Bradley (6-0) was the winner by decision after 10 rounds versus Feriche Mashauri (6-1) on Saturday Sept. 15. The win gives Bradley the British Commonwealth super lightweight title.

 

USA

Schemelle Baldwin (2-0) won by technical knockout over Lashwanda Ellis (0-2) in the first round on Saturday Sept. 15. The middleweight fight was held in Hockessin, Delaware.

Shayna Forriano (1-0-1) and Sarah Click (0-1-1) fought to a draw after four rounds on Friday Sept. 14. The lightweight clash took place in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

Franchon Crews Dezurn (4-1) was the winner by majority decision after 10 rounds versus Maricela Cornejo (12-3) on Thursday Sept. 13. The win gives Crews, 31, the vacant WBC super middleweight world title and took place in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On Friday Sept. 21, super featherweights Hannah Terlup (1-0) and Angela Hayes (1-2-1) meet in a four round match in Denver, Colorado. And welterweights Darci Vigil (0-1) and Diana Miller (0-0) meet in a four round bout.

On Saturday Sept. 22, lightweights Selina Barrios (4-0) and Patricia Juarez (4-0) meet in a 10 round clash for the NABF lightweight title at Corpus Christi, Texas.

On Saturday Sept. 22, flyweights Ava Knight (15-2-4) and Nancy Franco (17-13-2) meet in a six round fight at Las Vegas, Nevada.