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Philippines, 19 May 2024 |
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BREAKING NEWS: DRIAN FRANCISCO KO'S THAI DUANGPETCH! By James Goyder PhilBoxing.com Tue, 30 Nov 2010 THAILAND--Highly rated Filipino prospect Drian Francisco claimed the most significant victory of his fledgling career by knocking out Thai veteran Duanpetch Kokietgym to claim the interim WBA World super flyweight title. The experienced Kokietgym has fought 53 times and had not been beaten since 2007 and was expected to provide a stern test of Francisco?s world title credentials. In a clash of styles Francisco looked to stay on the outside and pick his opponent apart while Kokietgym?s tactic was to pressure his opponent into infighting. Francisco made the stronger start but Kokietgym came on strong in round three in front of a partisan home crowd in Nong Kharn. The Filipino fighter looked extremely uncomfortable as his opponent roughed him up with a combination of legal and illegal blows. Holding and hitting was a feature of the fight and Kokietgym also repeatedly landed intentional low blows. In the end this tactic probably backfired as, with Kokietgym appearing to have the momentum in a scruffy contest, the referee finally saw fit to deduct a point in round six. After being given time to recover Francisco came out all guns blazing and knocked Kokietgym down with a left hook, right uppercut combination. The Thai fighter needed the full 10 seconds to recover and Francisco set about finishing the fight, dropping him towards the end of the round with another right hook. Kokietgym was probably saved by the bell but he recovered and round seven saw him back on the front foot and pressuring Francisco, who looked extremely uncomfortable fighting at close range. The knockdowns had clearly slowed the experienced Thai down but he still looked slightly the fresher of the two fighters. Francisco came back strong in round eight and landed another big uppercut. He was finding a home for his right cross against the southpaw and Kokietgym was repeatedly on the receiving end of some solid shots which, to his credit, he took well. Another clearly deliberate low blow by the Thai fighter in round eight saw the fight paused yet again but surprisingly with no point deduction. Kokietgym set about Francisco when the fight was restarted but a straight right hand stopped him in his tracks. The Filipino probably had an insurmountable lead on the scorecards by this stage but looked visibly exhausted and slightly unsteady in his feet as the bell sounded. It was turning into a war of attrition and Francisco probably only needed to hold on for the final four rounds to win the fight but he ended it in emphatic fashion in the ninth. Once again it was the right cross which did the damage, although he landed an uppercut as Kokietgym was on his way down just for good measure. The Thai fighter was down and out for only the second time in 54 fights and Francisco was crowned the interim WBA World super flyweight champion. It is still a performance which will still raise a lot of questions about the Filipino prospect, who remains unbeaten after 21 fights. Kokietgym provided future opponents with a blueprint for beating him by using constant pressure and infighting. At times Francisco was forced to turn his back on his opponent in order to escape and will need to improve upon his defence if he is to fight at a higher level. However Francisco deserves tremendous credit for emerging victorious in such a tough contest, particularly given that he was on the receiving end of repeated low blows and hit and hold tactics. Click here to view a list of other articles written by James Goyder.  |
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