By Jake Chaney.
On September 14th the world's premier female Super Middleweights – Franchon Crews and Alejandra Jimenez - will collide in a bout that LinealBoxingChampion.com recognises as for the vacant Lineal Super Middleweight World Championship.
Traditionally, throughout boxing history, vacant World Championships have been decided by contests between the two leading viable contenders in a division. The Lineal Championship continues this tradition. Franchon is our #1 rated Super Middleweight, and Jimenez is #2, and as such, their upcoming contest is worthy of crowning a new champion.
32 year old Franchon Crews, 5-1 (2 KOs), who resides in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, immediately shot to prominence as a professional with her exciting, albeit losing effort, on points, against current P4P No.1, Claressa Shields, in a fight in which both women were making their debuts. Crews has gone 5-0 since then, including snapping seasoned Super Middleweight Maricela Cornejo’s 8 fight winning streak on September 13th 2018 – it was a majority decision, but two of the official cards had Crews winning 9 rounds to 1.
Alejandra Jimenez (left), Franchon Crews (right)
At 5’8”, with a 72” reach, and never having weighed less than 165lbs as a professional, Crews is a good sized Super Middleweight. However, her Mexican opponent, Alejandra Jimenez, “La Tigre,” is 3 inches taller, and brings with her, a wealth of experience against opposition just as big, if not bigger than the American, having competed at Heavyweight from 2014 - 2018. In February this year, she convincingly outpointed Irais Hernandez, in a bout in which both women weighed 167lbs. Although Hernandez had a patchy record, in just 4 fights she had drawn with Ema Kozin (14-0) and Jimenez (10-0), and had taken Maricela Cornejo to a split decision.
Incidentally, for Crews/Jimenez, only one sanctioning body belt will be on the line. Beating lower ranked contenders simply because they hold ABC belts, is irrelevant to crowning a true World Champion. When Katie Taylor defeated Delfine Persoon, and Claressa Shields defeated Christina Hammer earlier this year, they were both contests between the leading fighters in those weight classes, and crowned new Lineal champions. Whether zero, 4, 10 or 20 belts were being held aloft after these fights was immaterial. Likewise, Crews Vs Jimenez is the best fighting the best at 168lbs - belts not required.
A brief explanation as to why WBC 168lbs titlist, Alicia Napoleon, 12-1, is not in our Super Middleweight top 2 is perhaps necessary. In fact, in our August ratings, Alicia was not rated in our Super Middleweight top 5 at all. Why? Because up until August 28th, she had only ever faced one opponent who had weighed within the Super Middleweight range of 160-168lbs – and that was a loss against 162lbs Tori Nelson 3 years ago, back in 2016. For Napoleon’s WBC belt winning fight against Femke Hermans in 2018, both women weighed sub-160lbs. On August 29th 2019, for the first time in her career Napoleon weighed within the Super Middleweight range (161lbs), and fought a Super Middleweight (163lbs Schmelle Baldwin). With this victory, Alicia enters our September top 5, but does not make out top 2. Why? The opponent, Baldwin, was 3-0, but against 3 opponents who had never won a fight between them.
Women's professional boxing is increasing in popularity. Admittedly, it still lacks depth, particularly in the heavier divisions, but talented stars can and do exist, even in small pools. It's also important to remember that the current fighters are pioneers – they are paving the way for future generations, and helping the sport grow.
As per 15Rounds.com, Crews said recently:
“I know Los Angeles has a deep Mexican culture in boxing that I respect, and a lot of people may root against me, but know my goal is to win while continuing to raise the profile for all female boxers.”
Forget the confusing array of sanctioning body titles.
#1 rated Crews Vs #2 rated Jimenez, will crown a true World Champion at 168lbs. Along with Shields and Taylor, the winner will be one of just three Lineal Champions in women’s boxing.