Shields Lands $8M Boxing Deal
Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields secured a landmark $8 million deal for her upcoming bout against Franchon Crews-Dezurn, marking a "full-circle" moment as the two first met in the 2012 Olympic trials. Shields, now 17-0 with three knockouts, continues breaking barriers for women's boxing both in the ring and at the negotiating table.
- This upcoming bout is a rematch nearly a decade in the making; the two fighters made their professional debuts against each other in November 2016. Shields won that initial four-round fight by unanimous decision. - While Shields is defending her undisputed heavyweight title, Crews-Dezurn is the current WBC super middleweight champion and will be moving up in weight for this fight. After her initial loss to Shields, Crews-Dezurn went on to become the undisputed super middleweight champion. - Claressa Shields is the only boxer, male or female, to be the undisputed champion in three different weight classes in the four-belt era (junior middleweight, middleweight, and heavyweight). - The $8 million agreement is a multi-fight promotional deal, reported to be the most lucrative in women's boxing history. For comparison, the highly anticipated trilogy fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano is expected to have a combined purse of $18 million, with each fighter earning around $9 million. - Beyond boxing, Shields has also competed in professional mixed martial arts, signing a multi-year deal with the Professional Fighters League (PFL). Her current MMA record is 2 wins and 1 loss. - This will be Shields' third defense of her undisputed heavyweight crown. Her professional record stands at an undefeated 17 wins with 3 knockouts. - Franchon Crews-Dezurn has a professional record of 10 wins, 2 losses, and 1 no contest. Her only two losses have come against decorated champions Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall. - In their amateur careers, Crews-Dezurn was a decorated national champion and won a silver medal at the 2012 AIBA Women's World Boxing Championships.