Franchon Crews-Dezurn Wins By Majority Decision Over Citlalli Ortiz in Slugfest
By David A. Avila
After a long layoff Franchon Crews-Dezurn found it difficult but not impossible to thwart the hard-charging and much smaller target Citlalli Ortiz to retain the WBA and WBC super middleweight titles by majority decision on Friday.
No round was easy to win.
“I’m a giant and she’s a short lady with a lot of fire,” said Crews-Dezurn.
Crews-Dezurn (10-2, 2 Kos) was six-inches taller than So Cal’s Ortiz (4-2, 1 KO) but that proved troublesome at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, N.Y. on the International Boxing Hall of Fame fight card.
If you knew anything about Ortiz, a Mexican Olympian, it was her defensive skills and high energy attacks. Built like a pocket battleship Ortiz slipped under and countered all night long with short, crisp blows.
It was a battle from the beginning until the end.
Known mostly for an overhand right, Crews discovered early that her favorite weapon was ineffective against the smaller Ortiz. Blow after blow looped over the head of the Mexican-American fighter.
“When I was trying to shoot she was not there,” said Crews about the missed rights.
But Crews is not a quitter.
Though much stronger and taller, Crews changed strategies from her usual hard charging attack to a fight at longer distance. And toward the last three rounds the champion attacked the body with short shots and uppercuts.
The judges did not miss those blows in their scoring.
One of the questions for Ortiz was if she could take a blow from Crews. Midway through the fight that right hand bomb connected and the shorter Ortiz kept attacking. After that it was clear that it was not going to be an easy night for the champion Crews who had not fought in more than 18 months.
Ortiz connected with her explosive combinations but never did hurt Crews. Likewise for the champion who caught the shortstop with left hooks on the nose. Nothing fazed either fighter in the championship fight.
After 10 fast-paced rounds one judge scored it 95-95 while two others saw it 98-92 and 96-94 for Crews-Dezurn who keeps the WBC and WBA world titles.
(Photo by Al Applerose)