Phetchaburi, Thailand ? Drian Francisco fought with all his heart but the sturdy challenger from Thailand pulled through with a victory.
Tepparioth Singwancha moved up to the super flyweight division for the sole purpose of facing Francisco. It was evident early on that the Thai studied Francisco very well. Instead of backing off when Francisco attacks him, Singwancha would duck under, which would make Francisco miss with his left hooks.
Francisco started the fight well, keeping the Thai away from him but he got careless and was dropped in the third round. Francisco bounced back quickly in the nest few rounds and was leading in two of the judges? scorecards going into the ninth round.
The judges then scored the ninth, tenth, and eleventh rounds for the Thai. Two of the judges also gave the last round to Singwancha. While the 114-113 scores were acceptable, the 117-111 card was clearly a hometown decision.
Francisco?s team also cannot believe that the judges did not give them credit for the latter rounds. ?It was a really close fight but the fact that the judges did not score the last rounds for Francisco is questionable,? said Elmer Anuran, Francisco?s manager.
This was clearly a trap fight for Francisco. He was going up an unknown opponent in his hometown. The fact that a July fight against WBA super flyweight champion Hugo Cazares has been mentioned may have also affected his focus in this fight.
Francisco should learn from this fight and buckle down to work as soon as his body recovers. He must remember that Manny Pacquiao also lost his title when he tried to defend it in Thailand. Francisco was not beaten up or anything. He just had the wrong gameplan to attack the weaknesses of the Thai fighter.
Francisco tried to use his advantage in height and length and boxed from the outside. The problem was that he positioned himself too far to be effective. He and his team knew that Singwancha only knew one way of fighting and that was charging straight. Francisco chose to back down and fight from the outside rather than mixing it up with the Thai.
With the loss, the fight against Cazares is now out of the equation. He and his team must now plan what their next steps will be. They will need to decide if Francisco can still be effective at 115 or if it?s time to move up to 118.
Francisco fought his heart out. Too bad for him, Singwancha did not back down. He rose to the challenge and fought back with all he had.
As the belt was wrapped around his body, Singwancha was reduced to tears. Francisco, the gallant fighter that he is, congratulated him and walked away from the ring.
The first loss always stings the hardest but it is here when men are separated from the boys. This loss is a chance for Francisco to show that he can rise above trials. This loss will hurt for a while but if he takes it the correct way, he?ll be a better fighter the next time he fights.
