At Manchester’s AO Arena, Savannah Marshall of Great Britain defeated American Franchon Crews-Dezurn by majority decision points to claim the title of undisputed super-middleweight champion.

In a demanding yet frantic bout, the 32-year-old local fighter took a while to get going but ended up connecting with the cleaner, harder strikes.

The judges gave the match scores of 95–95, 99–92, and 97–93.

Marshall demanded a rematch with Claressa Shields following the fight.

American Shields was present and active at ringside when Marshall greeted him and stated, “Thanks for coming over, let’s get it on at super-middleweight.”

Marshall, who triumphs in her thirteenth professional contest, lost her debut match to Shields, a fierce competitor, in agonizing fashion.

Marshall overcomes the challenging Crews-Dezurn obstacle
Although 8,000 tickets were claimed to have been sold, there didn’t seem to be quite that many people in the 21,000-seat venue.

Nevertheless, Marshall had a raucous welcome as the challenger when he entered the ring first.

Marshall wins the undisputed title, and Jonas becomes the two-weight world champion.
The national anthems and what may have been a boxing first followed. A vocalist who had tried out for American Idol, Baltimore boxer Crews-Dezurn, entered the stage and sang the Star-Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States. Marshall and the Manchester crowd were not really impressed.

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Theatrics complete, it was time to get to work.

Both fighters smothered their work in a chaotic and cagey opening, with Crews-Dezurn hitting some strong hooks. In the second, Marshall answered with a straight right down the barrel.

Early rounds were difficult to score in. In the third, Crews-Dezurn slipped and hit the ground; the referee properly called it a slip. The next round resulted in Marshall being knocked to the ground. Both boxers struggled to find their rhythm as there was a lot of clinching.

In the middle rounds, Marshall improved her boxing behind the jab and started landing combinations.

‘Heavy-Hitting Diva’ Crews-Dezurn continued to advance, trying to rough up Marshall on the inside and unleashing wild, looping hooks despite having just two KO victories. However, Marshall was maintaining the pace and winning the exchanges.

Action of Savannah Marshall
After losing to Claressa Shields at middleweight in October, Marshall competed in back-to-back uncontested matches.
In the eighth, a fantastic combination to the head and body left Crews-Dezurn trembling. Marshall began to move more freely around the ring and even attempted to land some uppercuts on the inside as soon as she realized she was winning the cards.

In the last round, the competitors kept letting their hands fly. Even though one judge gave it a draw, Marshall may have occasionally been guilty of underutilizing her height and reach advantage. Nevertheless, there was little disagreement with the outcome.

Shields declared, “I’ll take her at any weight.”
Marshall anticipated a rematch with Shields, who bills herself as the GWOAT (greatest woman fighter of all time), as she sported four new world title belts.

Even though Shields won decisively eight months ago, promoter Shalom claimed a rematch made sense for both competitors. There are no pay days that are greater for either of them.

Marshall stated, “I don’t think I will make middleweight; it is a little of a squeeze, but she can have a shot at super-middle.”

“If Savannah comes to the USA, I’ll fight her at any weight,” Savannah Marshall Shields retorted on Sky Sports. I previously beat her up when I came over here (to the UK).

“If she travels to the United States, Detroit will rock her. She lacks a lot of strengths and failed to learn from her previous conflict with me.

Although Marshall’s performance wasn’t very strong, the fact that she was considering retiring after losing to Shields demonstrates the division’s lack of depth.

Marshall will believe that she was making some progress and that all that was required was a small adjustment to strategy. It would appear to the ‘GWOAT’ as just another routine night’s work. Likewise, she is out of opponents to defeat.