DRIAN FRANCISCO?S MIS-FORTUNE
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 15 Jul 2013
Trainer Justin Fortune told Philboxing.com?s Ronnie Nathanielsz that Filipino slugger Drian Francisco is looking ?very good? and ?is ready to fight? two days before the most important fight of his career.
The former heavyweight contender turned trainer and one time conditioning coach of the legendary Manny Pacquiao stated that Francisco ?has done very well (in training) and is ready for this fight.?
Drian Francisco looked far from ready when he faced Chris Avalos last Friday at the Texas Casino Station in Las Vegas.
The boxer from Sablayan, Mindoro was like a car running on low grade gas in the 3rd round alone and is nearly empty even before the half time mark of what was only a 10 round bout. Avalos got back in the groove of things and overcame an early lead by the Filipino when Francisco started to tire in Round 3 and the entire second half of their fight.
And I thought Fortune said that Francisco was ready?
Francisco flew to Los Angeles to train and move in with Fortune last March in an effort to get away from his old manager and stable from the Philippines. He has been training and sparring since then, providing work to the likes of Vic Darchinyan and others at his trainer?s gym. He has been preparing already back then, in anticipation of a fight in May and June that did not materialize until last Friday, a lengthy amount of time for a training camp.
Fortune also said that Francisco has been sparring with ?a couple of bigger guys, 135 pounders for strength.?
Francisco, who is a natural bantamweight, has been battling it out with guys 10 pounds heavier than him. No wonder that he is dead tired when I spoke to him on a number of occasions.
Is Francisco?s obvious lack of stamina and conditioning due to his unusual long camp? Is his trainer?s choice of bigger and heavier spar mates smart? Did that contributed to his poor performance last week?
Was Francisco over trained? A noted conditioning coach and trainer of the sport whom I talked to thinks so. He pointed out that Francisco looked ?stiff? in there ? a sign of over ? training- he said.
And I thought that Fortune is a master of conditioning? Maybe there was a reason why his stint with Manny Pacquiao was short lived.
Drian Francisco had a lot to lose in that fight. His future as a boxer in America hinged on that bout which was televised nationally via ESPN. He gambled in his career by switching managers and leaving his family in the Philippines, hoping that it?ll pay off.
But he had no chance against a young, better prepared and equipped counterpart who not only took advantage of his lack of stamina, but also was better coached and trained, than what he had in his corner. He and his trainer relied on his known heavy- handedness. They had no other plans besides that. He looked lost early in the fight, looking at his corner for help and guidance in the 6th round - which never came. His defense was non-existent. He was getting hit at will, and by jabs at that. This happened, despite Fortune?s earlier statement that he prepped him to be a better defensive fighter.
Francisco can bounce back from this. People who know him know how talented he is in the ring. They were surprised to see him fade early. That was not the Francisco that they know of. But in order to rebound from this, Francisco needed to re-assess what went wrong- and that is not too hard to figure out.
Veteran ringside photographer Naoki Fukuda snapped a telling picture of Francisco after his 10 round lost to Avalos. His mouth was open and yearning for air. He can barely stand and is hanging by the ropes to stay on his feet. He can barely lift his hands up and looked worse than a losing high-roller in Vegas.
Drian Francisco need not look somewhere else to find the cause of this disaster. He just needed to look at that picture and it will hit him right in the head- right there, even harder than Avalos? punches.
You can reach the author at rrmaze24@aol.com and on Twitter a@Freemazon910.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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