Noted Promoter DiBella Working On All-Female Card; WBC Champion Crews Dezurn Verbally Agrees To Unification Bout!

Could be some interesting times in women's boxing in 2019, especially if one noted promoter gets his way.

Legendary boxing maven Lou DiBella has been in negotiations to put a very high-profile, all-female card on Showtime in the spring of 2019.  According to DiBella, the card would be held somewhere in the New York Tri-State area and will include at least two, and maybe as many as four world title bouts.

One of the championship bouts that has been verbally agreed to is a unification Super Middleweight champion contest between WBC champion "The Heavy-Hitting Diva" Franchon Crews Dezurn of Baltimore, MD and WBA titleholder Alicia "The Empress" Napoleon of Lindenhurst, NY.

Crews Dezurn (4-1, one KO) won her title in her last outing, a 10-round majority decision over Maricela Cornejo on September 13th in Las Vegas, NV.  Napoleon (10-1, five KO's) won three straight bouts after suffering her only loss, a 10-round unanimous decision to Beltway Boxer Tori Nelson, in December of 2016 in Springfield, VA.  Napoleon would win the WBA Super Middleweight title on March 3rd defeating Femke Hermans by unanimous decision in Brooklyn, NY.  Napoleon successfully defended her title by beating Hannah Rankin by unanimous decision on August 4th in Uniondale, NY.

The other unification title bout would be in the featherweight division as WBO champion Heather Hardy takes on WBA/WBC titleholder Jelena Mrdjenovich.

“I’ve said for a long time that I was going to do an all-women’s card and I feel more strongly than ever that it’s way beyond its time,” DiBella told BoxingScene.com. “There needs to be a card of women, top to bottom, that’s representative of the sport. Claressa Shields is a terrific fighter and her fight with Hanna Gabriels was a terrific fight because you had two world-class women together. There are other terrific fighters out there, no doubt about that. But you need a card that’s match made to bring the best in women’s boxing to the public.”

“Those two matchups can’t go wrong,” said DiBella. “And both sides of each fight have agreed to fight each other if it’s on a televised platform.”

Dibella has a number of female boxers under contract, including Napoleon and Hardy.  This proposed card could also be an opportunity for another DiBella prospect, undefeated Beltway Boxer "The Dark Menace" Tiara Brown of Bladensburg, MD.  Brown (7-0, five KO's) has registered two stoppages since coming under the DiBella banner.

“There are other names like Raquel Miller, Mariana Juarez, Ava Knight, Tiara Brown, Jessica McCaskill, Melissa St. Vil,” DiBella said. “I’m not limiting this to people that I promote. I want to make a fight card that blows people’s minds."