BoxRec

Is he finished.??/..did anyone see how bad he was knocked out the other night..feel bad that his career panned out the way it has...he had such great potential...hope he can get himself together and earn one last payday......

Yes, very sad to see him in a prizefighter - no disrespect to all the other prizefighters in this and the others - but Dean had the potential to be a level above any of the prizefighters.

However, whilst I feel sympathy for him with his arm problems, I still think if he employed a nutritionalist he should make Light Heavy no bother.

Gorgeous left-hook - it's a massive shame that he doesn't have a right-hand anymore.

His fighting style was very strange on the night jumping ahout much more than I thought he did and show boating, from the cheep seats it didn't look like a massive punch though.

yeah he did seem to be jumping in and out a lot, but still took Neil Simpson apart. I was outside the auditorium when Francis was chinned by Keeton, but even so, it looked like he still has something left. Better at light-heavyweight methinks.

Boxingmad wrote:yeah he did seem to be jumping in and out a lot, but still took Neil Simpson apart. I was outside the auditorium when Francis was chinned by Keeton, but even so, it looked like he still has something left. Better at light-heavyweight methinks.

I think part of getting out of his contract with Warren was aggreeing he wouldn't fight for the british lhw title

He wasn't badly knocked out or anything the other night, the first one caught him high on the head and took his legs away, the second knockdown was from a decent swinging punch. But Dean got to his knee's and i think thought this guy is just to big for me. He didn't look too badly hurt.

Hard to know where he goes from here, maybe he could get a couple of wins at lightheavy and try for a commonwealth or British title. Could always be that his chin has gone after this though

His legs were gone.The ref had to help him up up and he had to sit on the stool in Keetons corner.I think it was a lot worse than people think

It was an interesting decision for him to step up to cruiser when he was going along nicely at lightheavy. Certainly seems to have backfired with the draw to Vegas where he looked completely out of sorts and now the prizefighter defeat. Its a shame because a match up against Cleverly at lhw for the British title would have been a good fight imo.

A shame for Francis, but am pleased for Buster -a super guy, and did very well to get to the final -getting past, Bruce Scott and Dean Francis.No mean feat, I can tell ya.

I don't know what went wrong with his career after the British Fight of the Year, knocking out Oakey for the British title. As he had knocked out one Ovill McKenzie with almost contemptible ease for the Commonwealth strap. I did have a feeling that the Oakey win was the Last Hurrah.

Whatever went wrong, this has been one of the very worst career regressions I have ever seen. Vacating the Commonwealth, in other words allowing Cleverly to step up as the active "star" of Friday Fight Night...in other words enabling a rival to get stronger.

Then with the WBO title shot apparently there for the taking, he moves up to cruiser, which he had already come down from, has the dire draw with Vegas which all but kills him as a headliner and then loses in "Nine Minute Scufflers" aka Prize Fighter.

Really good fighter. How did it all go wrong?

To be fair, the shot that caught him was very high on the head, and I don't think he ever recovered from that first knockdown as a result. The second shot also caught him near the temple, with the same result.

I don't think though that at Cruiserweight he can succeed - there are bigger punchers than Keeton in there - and he will get flattened.

Also, he only has one arm to fight with, which is really not viable.

To his credit he did win the English title at cruiserweight but Francis is way better as a light heavy. Being at cruiser, especially in short slugging matches, gives too much advantage away.

How ironic that his 2 victims - McKenzie and Oakey - end up winning a Prize Fighter each.

wasnt there talk of francis replacing jonathon banks when he pulled out against macarinelli? that would have been painful

Always felt he'd have beaten Calzaghe. Real shame. I don't think the KO was bad, he just didn't seem to want anymore after the second knockdown and frankly I don't blame him.

Always a case of what might have been. Oakey fight will always be my highlight of him.

Prizefighter couldn't have been any easier for Francis. First to fight, an easy one too and plenty of time to recover. And then he gets stopped in the first round. From where I was sitting I thought the first knockdown made him question his chances of coming back and getting the win, and after the second I'm sure he shook his head at the ref to say no more. I was very disappointed and felt he quit knowing the uphill task he faced, but who knows, I'm not a fighter and only he knows how hurt he really was.

johnswan1 wrote:Prizefighter couldn't have been any easier for Francis. First to fight, an easy one too and plenty of time to recover. And then he gets stopped in the first round. From where I was sitting I thought the first knockdown made him question his chances of coming back and getting the win, and after the second I'm sure he shook his head at the ref to say no more. I was very disappointed and felt he quit knowing the uphill task he faced, but who knows, I'm not a fighter and only he knows how hurt he really was.

obviously a knockdown in a 3 round format is pivotal, its either going to fire you up to go for the knockout, or, as in the case, totally dishearten you

2 knockdowns in a round could mean a 10-7 score, in a 3 round format means he would of had to get the knockout

Emerson Poncey Name Ghent wrote:Always felt he'd have beaten Calzaghe. Real shame. I don't think the KO was bad, he just didn't seem to want anymore after the second knockdown and frankly I don't blame him.

Always a case of what might have been. Oakey fight will always be my highlight of him.

When Calzaghe and Francis were coming up there was a glut of decent s-middles .. Woodhall,Starie,Reid,Delaney and Woods .. of these Francis was the one who I felt may have had the best chance of beating Calzaghe.(Calzaghe stopped Francis in the amateurs)

Sadly I feel he never really reached his potential, he seemed to be caught between s-middle and lt-heavy .. too drained at s-middle and not quite big enough for lt-heavy??

But, to have fought the last few years more or less one handed is a testament to how good he really could have been.

I fear it really is the end of Dean Francis now, he seemed to have lost his punch resistance .. and for a one handed fighter the ring is the last place he should be :(

I think its very hard to look at the Calzaghe vs Francis fight as a reference. Cause of the age gap.

However, what I think is important is how much Francis could do without the right hand. His right hand was never his strong asset - he was a left handed authordox fighter... he'd need the right for Joe and he need to be right hand happy.

I thought the same, untill I saw him being helped up by the ref. His equilibrium had gone.

Emerson Poncey Name Ghent wrote:Always felt he'd have beaten Calzaghe. Real shame. I don't think the KO was bad, he just didn't seem to want anymore after the second knockdown and frankly I don't blame him.

Always a case of what might have been. Oakey fight will always be my highlight of him.

JC beat him in a round in the amateurs

Taylor beat Pavlik.

Emerson Poncey Name Ghent wrote:Taylor beat Pavlik.

Obviously comparables from the amateurs aren't an exact science, JC was alao 18 months older but IMO the Welshman peak for peak was always a league ahead and the amateur result highlighted that.
Taylor v Pavlik was always competitive

I thought Taylor dealt with him quite easily, but fair enough mate. I'd put Calzaghe above most at the weight at amateur level.