THERE?S NOTHING MORE startling to ringsiders like a great knockout?right in the first round!
A happy stampede instantly results from this sort of stoppage.
Drian Francisco, thinking he had scored one, jumped up mad and rode the ropes.
He then started to blow kisses wildly to the amazed crowd that had started to roar at the Ynares Gym in Pasig.
But referee Bruce McTavish said not yet, and ruled a resumption of the bout.
***
There was the promise of a wholesale carnage.
But after seeing that Panamanian Ricardo Nu?ez, who had just gotten back from a second straight knockdown, could still take it, McTavish ordered a let-go.
Naturally, a few called McTavish a killjoy.
There were also those who felt McTavish had unduly endangered the Panamanian by exposing him to graver danger.
***
Did McTavish think of stopping the bout in the first round?
McTavish could be abroad on another assignment, because he failed to return our text message.
His last message went thus: ?Great news! Michelle McTavish?s ship, USN Ashland, had just resisted Somali pirates with gunfire,?
McTavish also did not reply when requested for more details about the pirates.
***
Anyway, knowing Brother Bruce, he obviously decided to resume the Francisco-Nu?ez bout because he didn?t want anything half-baked.
Nu?ez indeed appeared badly beaten, but he did not appear totally helpless.
Another thing: Francisco himself had the fight only half-won after the second decking in the opening round.
In fact, the Panamanian managed to push the bout to a thrilling edge, thereby subjecting Francisco to several severe tests.
***
OK, Francisco did pass the trial with flying colors.
He finally floored and stopped Nu?ez cold in the fifth round.
The stoppage was so explosive and Nu?ez had to be taken to the hospital for necessary scan and routine check-up.
On the whole, they also ended up cheering McTavish for allowing the fight to first develop into a full, valid theater.
***
In fact, Francisco also received some serious banging to the body.
But imagine if McTavish had decided to count out the Panamanian right in the first round.
You bet local fans would?ve erupted in total amazement.
It would have brought instant joy to many others who must?ve by now also installed Franciso, 19-0, with 15 KOs, as a knockout artist.
In fact, there next came suggestions Francisco must now be included among the budding successors to Manny Pacquiao.
***
At least, in Francisco?s case, he no longer has to chase indefinitely for a crack at a world crown.
He has been rewarded with a mandatory challenge to the world super flyweight title now held by a Japanese.
Anyway, lest it gets forgotten, McTavish did a lot to help Francisco in letting the bout proceed despite the brutal, one-sided first round.
How? The succeeding rounds bared Francisco, at best, could only be half-ready for a world title challenge.
***
Yes, Francisco may have the big punches, but he should be made to brush up solidly in defense.
?I watched Drian Francisco?s fight,? said Col. Pat Pi?ol, keen-eyed boxing scholar, in a message from Kidapawan. ?If his handlers think he?s ripe for a world title they must look again.
There are fears Francisco could take as much as he gives.
?He cannot hope to be a champion by allowing himself to be hit very often,? Pi?ol added.
Knowing Bruce McTavish, he would readily nod in agreement.
There ought to be a law against going for a world crown half-ready.
Or will Drian Francisco go for the big one with an awful handicap?
