DOMINGO-FRANCISCO ?BATTLE OF WILL & SKILL?
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 23 Sep 2011
The ten round clash between former world interim champion Drian Francisco and highly touted Michael Domingo of the famed ALA Gym is bound to be a battle of will and skill at the Makati Coliseum this evening.
Francisco whose fights we covered on ?The Main Event? during his early years has unfortunately changed his style in recent years since moving out from trainer and former world champion Erbito Salavarria whose style Francisco approximated along with that of former two division world champion Luisito Espinosa.
While his new style which includes ? and his youthful manager Elmer Anuran concedes ? too much showboating, has lost Francisco some of the diehard fans who believed he would emerge as another world champion in the mould of Espinosa.
Although Drian has met with some success, his style of throwing punches from way out and in a roundhouse fashion unnecessarily expends energy especially with the high ratio of lunges and misses which hurts his chances.
Domingo on the other hand is a slightly shorter but far more compact fighter with a solid defense and well calculated punches that find the mark with a minimum wastage of effort.
Francisco probably has an edge in punching power although Domingo doesn?t think so and told us he can handle Drian?s power without too much trouble.
The problem for Francisco will be to break through the defense of Domingo and to avoid being caught by a counter when he charges in with little concern for defense.
Anuran told us Francisco has to be in the best shape mentally to face Domingo who is a resolute, committed fighter who aims to get the job done and re-enter the consciousness of the world boxing organizations while Francisco, coming off his first defeat in Thailand will need to collect his wits and focus in the ring.
Both Francisco and Domingo have predicted a knockout and that nobody will be saved by the bell in the Solar Sports presentation in cooperation with Anuran?s ?Saved by the Bell? outfit.
This could be a career-defining fight for both men which means a lot is riding on the outcome.
Looking ahead at what may well be a close fight we asked ALA Promotions patron Tony Aldeguer whether he would be willing to stage a rematch in one of his highly successful ABS-CBN ?Pinoy Pride? series and he promptly agreed, introducing another element into what is surely going to be an intriguing fight.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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