Drian Francisco loses title via UD to Thai foe

A knockdown made the difference between keeping and losing his title for Drian Francisco. In the third round of the fight, Francisco was on retreat after exchanging some punches when he was caught with a wild left. He lost his footing and went down on Labor Day in Phetchaburi, Thailand. When the scores of 114-113, 114-113, and 117-111 were read, Francisco and his team could not help but think of how different things would have been if not for that knockdown. Tepparith Singwancha is the new interim WBA super flyweight title and with that title comes the chance of getting the world title that is currently held by Hugo Cazares of Mexico. Singwancha was the aggressor throughout the fight. He tried to bully his way to victory and make Francisco fight him on the inside. Francisco, however, chose to stay on the outside to use his superior height and reach. After the knockdown, Francisco buckled down to business as he won most of the middle rounds. He had the lead going into the final four rounds but even if the Thai was being peppered by all kinds of shots from Francisco, he did not back down and continued to throw bombs of his own. The final four rounds were all close and that both camps instructed their fighters to leave it all on the ring. The three judges scored the ninth, tenth, and eleventh rounds all for the Thai. And only one of them scored the twelfth for Francisco. “I though I won some of those finals rounds," said a disappointed Francisco. The judges chose to score the rounds for Singwancha because he was the aggressor even though Francisco was landing the crisper punches. “I can accept the 114-113 scores but the 117-111 scorecard of the Japanese judge is unacceptable," said Elmer Anuran. The Japanese judge was a late substitute for a Bulgarian judge who was supposed to work for that fight. After the fight, Francisco’s team talked about what they could have done better in the fight. The points raised were about changing their strategy of staying on the outside and instead slugging it out with Singwancha, using the jab more, and using more uppercuts as the Thai crouched down to avoid Francisco’s vaunted left hook. Francisco did everything he can to win. Sadly for him, the Thai was also in a very good shape. All is not lost for the young fighter. He now has to decide if he wants to stay at the super flyweight division or move up to the bantamweight or super bantamweight division. “People were telling me that I was too thin so maybe it’s time to move up," said Francisco. The title fight against Cazares is gone. Francisco needs to buckle down to work and hope that a world title shot will come sooner rather than later. - RCJ, GMA News