DONAIRE PRAISES DRIAN FRANCISCO?S COURAGE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 14 Jul 2013
Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire was a ringside at the Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas and watched former WBA super flyweight Interim champion Drian Francisco drop a unanimous ten round decision to American Chris Avalos on a Top Rank presentation of ESPN?s Friday Night Fights.
Donaire commended Franciso who he said ?showed a lot of heart? but noted that Drian is ?an all out kind of guy but he?s got to prepare his body for all out punches like he does. He goes all out with every punch without really targeting his opponent and misses and gets tired. For this you?ve got to be one hundred percent.?
The fight was marked by several vicious exchanges but Francisco who is trained by former world heavyweight contender Justin Fortune who was also one-time conditioning coach of Manny Pacquiao, appeared to fade in the late rounds and paid the price.
With the win Avalos improved to 22-2 with 16 knockouts and captured the North American Boxing Organization super bantamweight title while Francisco dropped to 24-2-1 with 19 knockouts.
All three judges had Avalos the winner by margins of 96-94 with two judges scoring it for the American 97-93.
Fortune told the Manila Standard that Franciso was doing well in the early rounds but in the fifth round he said ?I can?t breathe.?
The trainer was surprised that Francisco faded because he had sparred twelve rounds at times and worked on the punch-mitts for ten rounds several times and showed no signs of getting tired.
Reacting to Donaire?s comments, Fortune said ?that?s the way Drian fights he puts everything into it. That?s the way he spars, that?s the way he does the punch mitts. He puts everything into every punch.?
Fortune said he is ?still trying to figure out what happened? and he plans to have Francisco checked by a specialist on Monday fearing that even though Drian is not an asthmatic he may have had an attack which is not totally unusual in boxing.
The trainer added, Avalos ?didn?t win the fight, Drian lost it.?
Photo: Avalos (R) pressures Francisco on the inside during the FNF bout at the Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas on July 12. Photo by Jhay Otamias.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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