Julius Francis
| Julius Francis | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Rated at | Heavyweight |
| Nationality | British |
| Born |
8 December 1964 Peckham, London, England, UK |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 48 |
| Wins | 23 |
| Wins by KO | 12 |
| Losses | 24 |
| Draws | 1 |
| No contests | 0 |
Julius Francis (born 8 December 1964) is a former British heavyweight champion boxer who participated in many noteworthy boxing matches in the 1990s and 2000s. In 2007, he also participated in a mixed martial arts bout.
After a troubled youth that saw him spend several spells in prison, Francis turned pro in 1993 at the late age of 28 with a five-round knockout of Graham Arnold. He put together six wins (3 by knockout), including two in the US, before being matched, somewhat prematurely, with future world heavyweight champion John Ruiz. Francis was stopped in 4 rounds by body shots.
In 1995 Francis won Southern Area title fights against Damien Caesar and Keith Fletcher. However, he squandered a big opportunity in an eliminator, when far ahead on points after nine rounds, hard hitting Scott Welch came from behind to drop him three times and stop him in 10. After this fight, Welch would go on to win the British title and challenge for a world title, while Francis was dropped by his team and relegated to journeyman status.
Later in 1995, he took a fight in Russia and was outpointed by local Nikolai Kulpin and, in London, lost a debatable decision by half a point to veteran Michael Murray.
Francis showed marked improvement in 1996, knocking out ex-victim Caesar in the first round to regain his Southern Area title, outpointing Michael Holden, and scoring the biggest win of his career to date as he took on hard hitting "Big Bad" James Oyebola and destroyed the giant Nigerian in 5 one sided rounds.
The big win over Oyebola got Francis a February 1997 shot at Zeljko Mavrovic for his European title, on the champion's home turf of Austria. Francis "stole" Mavrovic's bizarre mohawk haircut for the fight and even dyed it blonde. In the fight itself, Francis strangely took a knee from body shots in the 8th and watched the ref wave the fight off. Mavrovic would go on to lose on points to Lennox Lewis in a World title challenge, a fight that Lewis would say in 2006 was "the hardest of my career".
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