On Monday evening, 8CN spoke with undefeated super bantamweight, Michael ?Lil Warrior? Franco. The 23 year old prospect boasts a record of 16-0 with 11 KOs. He is currently preparing to face Adolfo ?El Terror? Landeros at Casino Del Sol in Tuscon, Arizona. The 8 round, semi-main event will be televised live on the Telefutura network on August 20. The pleasant, level-headed young pugilist also spoke about his new gym, Warriors Combat Academy, and his passion to develop a rehabilitation program for injured veterans.
8CN: How you doing, Michael?
MF: Hey, how you doing, Lorne?
8CN: Doing good. You have a fight coming up on August 20. How’s training camp?
MF: Training camp couldn?t be going any better. It?s going great right now. I did sparring today. I do sparring every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have our regular workouts. Everything?s going great. Sparring?s going great. I?m getting my miles in the morning. Our meals are going perfect with my nutritionist. I couldn?t ask for anything better.
8CN: You?ll be going against Adolfo Landeros. What do you know about him?
MF: Uh, you know what, I don?t know much about him. Just by word of mouth, what people tell me and what we?ve been workin? on. You know, like I?ve said to everybody else, I?m just gonna go in there, I?m gonna work on what I have to do and I?m gonna make him make his adjustments around the way I fight. So I?m gonna go in there with my strong game plan, box, I?m gonna jab, and I?m gonna make him work around me. I have a strong game plan. We?re gonna stick to it and I know it?s gonna work great.
8CN: I understand that you’ve been concentrating on some business ventures, so you’ve been away from the ring since November of 2009. Would you like to talk a little bit about Warriors Combat Academy? It sounds like a good thing.
MF: Oh yes. Warriors Combat Academy is a great gym. It?s basically an all-fight gym. We have MMA, boxing, kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, Muay Thai? We offer a lot of different classes. All of our trainers are ex-fighters. Myself, I?m the boxing coach. I work with some of the kids and stuff. It?s really great. It?s also a great learning experience. Other than that, being in the gym, I?m always in shape, and I?m always training. We?re doing good things right now for the veterans of the United States… of the war. We have a program right now. If they have difficulties; if they were in the war and they got hurt, we have a good program right now. We?re puttin’ it up and we’re trying to get some of the veterans back on their feet. We have great discounts for them. Fifty percent off on everything. I want more veterans in there, and I want to help them. I want to see them get back on their feet.
8CN: I’m glad you talked about that. That’s a great thing you’re doing. That’s really important.
MF: Yes. I couldn’t have a gym without them fighting out there. I couldn’t be, you know, here fighting without them doing the real fighting out there, and helping our country. I’m trying to do as much as I can and give back.
8CN: You know, another good thing about your gym is that you’re planning for the future. You’re already a businessman at 23 years old, and you still have your boxing career ahead of you.
MF: I’m always with my father and stuff, and he’s always taught me to work hard, and that’s what I’ve always done my whole life. We just opened up, and I can’t wait to see it in the future.
8CN: I know you said that you stay in shape, but as we know, in the ring it’s different than when you’re training. It’s been 9 months since your last fight. Are you concerned at all about ring-rust at this point?
MF: You know what? I’m not concerned about ring-rust. I think the most I’ve ever taken off since my last fight was probably a weekend, I think, a two or three day weekend. I’m a gym-rat. You know, I admit it. I’m a gym-rat. I have to be in the gym. If I’m not in the gym, if I didn’t work out that day, I’ll stay up until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning just because my body’s so used to being really tired from a hard workout. So, you know, I’m always in the gym, and I’m always workin’. My body’s always in top shape. I’ve been doing sparring, and helping some of the guys spar, but I think [ring-rust] is not gonna be a problem at all. I’m really excited to get in there. I’m hungry. I haven’t been this hungry in a long, long time. My hunger to fight, you know, I think that’s a big, big part of that. Some people don’t want to get in there. They’re kind of nervous. But I’m hungry. I wanna get in there and I wanna win.
8CN: How did you get started in boxing?
MF: I started at Willy’s Boxing Gym in Mira Loma. I think it shut down a couple years back. My father just asked me one day; ‘You wanna get in the gym?’ As him being an ex-fighter, he’d always taught me the basics, so when I got into boxing it kind of came to me natural. I played baseball and football when I was younger. I played strong safety in football, so you know, I was a reliable guy. In baseball, I was second baseman. I was sharp, I was fast, and boxing came quick to me. You know, boxing’s not a team sport. You can’t rely on anybody, so when you’re in there, it’s all on you. That’s kind of what I fell in love with because it was all on me. You take all the blame, but you also get to take all the glory, but it’s great. I love it.
8CN: So your father was a boxer also?
MF: Amateur, yes. I had a couple of uncles who were amateur also. Nobody ever went pro, but you know, they always helped me out when I was little, teaching me little things. I kind of just picked it up little by little, so when I actually got in the gym, everything just came kind of natural to me.
8CN: Did you have a big amateur career?
MF: Not too big. Forty-something fights. It wasn’t too big. A couple of tournaments. I did a lot of pro-am cards. I was maybe 16 or 17. Those were great. You’re going in there with big lights around the ring, and you get a different crowd. That was kind of teasin’ me for the pro cards, so when I had my pro debut it wasn’t too bad. The amateurs and the pros, they’re way different, you know. That was great. I weighed in the day before and fought the next day, so I kind of got that full experience of a pro fight. I think that also made me more hungry to turn pro. As soon as I was 18, I couldn’t wait. The month after my 18th birthday, I turned pro.
8CN: Name some fighters that you enjoy watching, and that inspire you.
MF: Zab Judah’s great. I think he’s awesome. Umm, Juan Manuel Marquez, I mean… awesome boxer. I kind of take my style a little from him. When I watch him, I try to emulate him and stuff. He’s great. Very technical. Kostya Tszyu. Good boxer. Strong boxer. He hits you with a brick. I remember growing up, I used to love Tyson just because he was so brutal. (laughs) I was always, ‘Oh yeah! Tyson this, Tyson that’. I was like, 10 maybe. Every fighter, I can respect. It takes a lot to get up there in the ring and fight, and to train, and to put in all the work. I give respect to all fighters. I don’t talk bad about any of ’em.
8CN: Ok, Michael. What would you like to say to the boxing fans out there?
MF: I’d like to thank everybody. Come out and watch it. It’s going to be a great fight. I’m really excited. I can’t wait. I’m gonna go in there and throw hard, and take out my opponent early, so it’s gonna be great. Everybody tune in on Telefutura live and watch it.
8CN: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Michael.
MF: Alright. I appreciate it.
