By Raquel Ruiz

The weigh-in went super slow today at #KovalevWard super fight. Unfortunately, the women were at the end of a very boring program and lots of people had stepped out by the time they took to the scale, including me, who needed to get a towel to dry my clothes because one of the boxers accidentally spilled Gatorade on my miniskirt.

ClaressaShields (167lbs) and FranchonCrews (168lbs) made weight without problems, and I had the opportunity to chat with Franchon, who as always was very gracious in answering questions.

She wasn’t ready when they called her for the fight, nor had she planned to make her pro-debut, but how she was going to pass up this opportunity? So she got herself together, lost some extra weight and started training. And here she is in Vegas with a great attitude, ready to box tomorrow against a woman who is considered the best female boxer in the world, Claressa Shields.

“I’m very happy to be here to box on this card,” said Crews. “I feel it’s an opportunity for me and to advance the agenda of women boxing.”

It will be the first time these two great boxers fight without headgear.

According to Crews’ coach Patrice Harris, it won’t be a problem for them.

“Actually we will have better visibility and we know the need to protect ourselves to not  get cut,” said Crews.

Claressa told me in 2012 when I interviewed her the first time: “My game plan is to continue working hard to the point of knowing what it would take to beat me. If I do that, and then it becomes impossible to beat me.”

Until now, with two Olympic gold medals, World, Panamerican and Continental championships, it has been impossible to beat her.

Will it be the same in the Pros?

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