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Avila Perspective, Chap. 242: The Journey of Joshua Franco

World champion Joshua Franco announced his retirement after eight years of trading blows with some of the best smaller weight fighters in the world.
It was a surprise, but few questioned his decision.
“I’ve been going through a lot of mental problems that I was doing my best to control,” said Franco. “I never talked about it publicly.”
He is 27 years old.
Ever since Franco arrived on the professional scene back in 2015, the prizefighter known as “The Professor” displayed an uncanny knack for beating the opposition. Whether they were stronger or faster or bigger they could never match that big brain of his.
Franco knew what prizefighting is all about.
When Franco arrived in Southern California after signing with Robert Garcia eight years ago, he and several others arrived from Texas like fresh boots ready to go to war. Franco, Hector Tanajara and later Vergil Ortiz arrived to form a Texas club in Riverside, California. That’s where Robert Garcia Boxing Academy is located.
Sparring was fierce as the new recruits would exchange blows and learn from Robert Garcia and his son and others including Mikey Garcia, one of the best fighters in any era. Their sessions included outsiders like Ronny Rios and many others.
When I would ask the young fighters who is the best, they would point to Franco. When I would ask Robert Garcia, he would point to Franco.
Golden Boy Promotions signed Franco and the first time Franco fought in the prize ring was at the beautiful Belasco Theater in downtown Los Angeles. He won by split decision. It was obvious that one judge mixed up the name. He gave the other fighter every round.
Franco fought at Belasco eight times in three years. The small venue that holds maybe 1,000 people was perfect for fight fans to see the young talented boxer from San Antonio. Though he was never a big puncher, he stayed in the pocket and used his skills to outwork whoever was in front of him.
His main asset was always that brain. He seemed to be dissecting his foe bit by bit. Once he found a weakness it was over. And foes with big power discovered that even when a powerful blow connected, the San Antonio fighter rarely blinked.
Prizefighting is all about entertaining. Fans want knockouts, blood and guts and excitement. They also want to see fighters with talent go up the rungs facing better and better talent. Franco knew this.
When asked if he would face a hotshot fighter from Colombia he said yes.
Colombia’s Negrete
Oscar “El Jaguar” Negrete had speed, skills and a lot of charisma. Fans liked the Colombian fighter’s style and willingness to trade with anyone. When an opening to fight Rey Vargas for a world title came up, he jumped at it. Though he lost by decision he went the distance.
Golden Boy matched Negrete with Franco at the OC Hangar on October 2018, and fans that had watched both fighters at Belasco Theater and Fantasy Springs Casino, rubbed their hands with glee in anticipation. They were not disappointed.
Pitting Franco and Negrete together was like tossing a cigarette lighter into a tumbler filled with nitroglycerine.
The OC Hangar has always been a spot where promoter Roy Englebrecht has staged spectacular monthly fights. On this occasion, Franco and Negrete set the bar to its highest level with rousing levels of punches.
For 10 rounds the two bantamweights exchanged lightning blows that connected with booms and each time one landed, the other fighter would respond immediately. They tried punches to the body and blows to the head. Both looking for weaknesses in the other’s game.
Just when you thought one fighter had an advantage and was about to close the show, the other would rally with even more vigor and the crowd would go crazy.
When Franco accepted the fight, he was not considered the favorite, especially with Negrete already competing for a world title. But that night Franco let the world know he was ready for world class competition.
After 10 rounds the fight was ruled a split draw. Fans did not complain and the media nodded their heads in agreement. It was just too close to declare a winner.
It was so close they agreed to do it again six months later at Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio. Both felt they won the first confrontation and were vocal about settling it in the ring. On April 2019, they went at it again but this time for the NABF title.
Just like the first fight both erupted on each other like two pit bulls clashing for one bowl of food. It was explosive and there were no surprises. One change in tactics seemed to be Franco targeting the body more. It seemed to slow down Negrete but not by much.
After 10 rounds Franco was declared the winner by split decision.
Once again it was close and once again Golden Boy Promotions decided to match them up, but this time in Texas. As in their first two clashes, the third encounter was razor close and this time another split draw.
After 30 rounds of tit-for-tat explosive action, it was decided to move on.
Pandemic
When the coronavirus struck the USA it was a death blow to all spectator sports. The world stayed inside their homes and restaurants and other forms of entertainment were shut down. Some for good.
Combat sports found a way to circumvent the spreading Covid-19 virus by testing and not allowing the regular public to attend the fights. Through television and other streaming entities, the world of boxing returned in late spring.
Though Franco was contracted to Golden Boy Promotions, he was allowed to fight on a Top Rank card staged in Las Vegas on June 23, 2020. His opponent was Australia’s Andrew Moloney the WBA super flyweight titlist.
No fans were in attendance when Franco dropped down to the 115-pound weight limit to face the rugged Aussie at the MGM Bubble. The fight was shown on ESPN and they saw what only fans on the West Coast had seen. Franco knows how to fight.
It was a strange situation watching a championship fight with no fans to cheer. Every blow and grunt was picked up by the microphones. Franco was able to display his boxing mastery in the ring that day. He had an answer for every puzzle and more.
In the 11th round Franco connected and Moloney went down. That proved the difference in the fight as Franco won by close scores of 114-113 twice and 115-112. He captured the WBC super flyweight world title.
They would fight two more times and Franco proved two more times that professional boxing has another level that separates champions from other champions. That mental edge of knowing how to win a fight when knockouts are not available.
After a clash of heads ended their second fight in a no-decision, Franco won the third fight by unanimous decision and moved on. Sadly, the pandemic did not allow fans to enjoy the classic confrontations but last year most of the world opened up.
Unification
Last December, WBA titlist Franco eagerly agreed to face WBO super flyweight titlist Kazuto Ioka in a unification match in Japan.
Franco was eager to fight in front of Japan’s eager boxing fans and face four-division champion Ioka.
The Texan was eager for the challenge and proved it with 12 rounds of back-and-forth ferocity that saw two judges score it dead even and one favor Franco. The match was declared a majority draw and both kept their titles.
Both champions agreed to a rematch and last weekend on June 24, the two met in Japan once again. But this time, Franco could not make the 115-pound weight limit. The fight did proceed but the Texan was unable to keep his title regardless of the outcome.
Franco did not win and was not the same as in their first encounter. Ioka won by unanimous decision and added the WBA title to his collection. The Texan announced his retirement.
“Last night in Tokyo, Japan was officially my last fight. It was a tough week for me and I didn’t get the result I wanted but I leave this sport knowing I gave it everything I had,” said Franco via social media.
Though still in his 20s, he leaves a solid legacy and his brother Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez remains in the game.
Thanks for the exciting ride, Professor.
Manchester Fights
Undisputed super middleweight world champion Franchon Crews-Dezurn (8-1, 2 KOs) meets England’s Savannah Marshall (12-1, 10 KOs) on Saturday July 1, at the AO Arena in Manchester, England. ESPN+ will televise the BOXXER Promotions card.
Crews and Marshall are two of the strongest women in the sport. They met before as amateurs and both need a win to fight Claressa Shields the only person to beat either fighter.
Also, Natasha Jonas (13-2-1, 8 KOs) drops down in weight to meet Kandi Wyatt (11-4, 3 KOs) in a welterweight bout for the vacant IBF welterweight title.
Heavyweight Battle in Toledo
Heavyweight contender Jared “Big Baby” Anderson (14-0, 14 KOs) faces former world titlist Charles Martin (29-3-1, 26 KOs) in the main event on Saturday July 1, at Toledo, Ohio. ESPN will televise the Top Rank card.
Anderson has never heard the final bell. All 14 opponents have been knocked out by the heavyweight contender.
Fights to Watch
Sat. ESPN+ 11 a.m. Franchon Crews-Dezurn (8-1) vs Savannah Marshall (12-1).
Sat, ESPN 7 p.m. Jared Anderson (14-0) vs Charles Martin (29-3-1).
Franco/Negrete photo credit: Al Applerose
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‘Krusher’ Kovalev Exits on a Winning Note: TKOs Artur Mann in his ‘Farewell Fight’

At his peak, former three-time world light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev ranked high on everyone’s pound-for-pound list. Now 42 years old – he turned 42 earlier this month – Kovalev has been largely inactive in recent years, but last night he returned to the ring in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and rose to the occasion in what was billed as his farewell fight, stopping Artur Mann in the seventh frame.
Kovalev hit his peak during his first run as a world title-holder. He was 30-0-1 (26 KOs) entering first match with Andre Ward, a mark that included a 9-0 mark in world title fights. The only blemish on his record was a draw that could have been ruled a no-contest (journeyman Grover Young was unfit to continue after Kovalev knocked down in the second round what with was deemed an illegal rabbit punch). Among those nine wins were two stoppages of dangerous Haitian-Canadian campaigner Jean Pascal and a 12-round shutout over Bernard Hopkins.
Kovalev’s stature was not diminished by his loss to the undefeated Ward. All three judges had it 114-113, but the general feeling among the ringside press was that Sergey nicked it.
The rematch was also somewhat controversial. Referee Tony Weeks, who halted the match in the eighth stanza with Kovalev sitting on the lower strand of ropes, was accused of letting Ward get away with a series of low blows, including the first punch of a three-punch series of body shots that culminated in the stoppage. Sergey was wobbled by a punch to the head earlier in the round and was showing signs of fatigue, but he was still in the fight. Respected judge Steve Weisfeld had him up by three points through the completed rounds.
Sergey Kovalev was never the same after his second loss to Andre Ward, albeit he recaptured a piece of the 175-pound title twice, demolishing Vyacheslav Shabranskyy for the vacant WBO belt after Ward announced his retirement and then avenging a loss to Eleider Alvarez (TKO by 7) with a comprehensive win on points in their rematch.
Kovalev’s days as a title-holder ended on Nov. 2, 2019 when Canelo Alvarez, moving up two weight classes to pursue a title in a fourth weight division, stopped him in the 11th round, terminating what had been a relatively even fight with a hellacious left-right combination that left Krusher so discombobulated that a count was superfluous.
That fight went head-to-head with a UFC fight in New York City. DAZN, to their everlasting discredit, opted to delay the start of Canelo-Kovalev until the main event of the UFC fight was finished. The delay lasted more than an hour and Kovalev would say that he lost his psychological edge during the wait.
Kovalev had two fights in the cruiserweight class between his setback to Canelo and last night’s presumptive swan song. He outpointed Tervel Pulev in Los Angeles and lost a 10-round decision to unheralded Robin Sirwan Safar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Artur Mann, a former world title challenger – he was stopped in three rounds by Mairis Briedis in 2021 when Briedis was recognized as the top cruiserweight in the world – was unexceptional, but the 34-year-old German, born in Kazakhstan, wasn’t chopped liver either, and Kovalev’s stoppage of him will redound well to the Russian when he becomes eligible for the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Krusher almost ended the fight in the second round. He knocked Mann down hard with a short left hand and seemingly scored another knockdown before the round was over (but it was ruled a slip). Mann barely survived the round.
In the next round, a punch left Mann with a bad cut on his right eyelid, but the German came to fight and rounds three, four and five were competitive.
Kovalev had a good sixth round although there were indications that he was tiring. But in the seventh he got a second wind and unleashed a right-left combination that rolled back the clock to the days when he was one of the sport’s most feared punchers. Mann went down hard and as he staggered to his feet, his corner signaled that the fight should be stopped and the referee complied. The official time was 0:49 of round seven. It was the 30th KO for Kovalev who advanced his record to 36-5-1.
Addendum: History informs us that Farewell Fights have a habit of becoming redundant, by which we mean that boxers often get the itch to fight again after calling it quits. Have we seen the last of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev? We woudn’t bet on it.
The complete Kovalev-Mann fight card was live-streamed on the Boxing News youtube channel.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welterweight Week in SoCal

Two below-the-radar super welterweight stars show off their skills this weekend from different parts of Southern California.
One in particular, Charles Conwell, co-headlines a show in Oceanside against a hard-hitting Mexican while another super welter star Sadriddin Akhmedov faces another Mexican hitter in Commerce.
Take your pick.
The super welterweight division is loaded with talent at the moment. If Terence Crawford remained in the division he would be at the top of the class, but he is moving up several weight divisions.
Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) faces Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs) a tall knockout puncher from Los Mochis at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif. on Saturday April 19. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also features undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora. We’ll get to her later.
Conwell might be the best super welterweight out there aside from the big dogs like Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora.
If you are not familiar with Conwell he comes from Cleveland, Ohio and is one of those fighters that other fighters know about. He is good.
He has the James “Lights Out” Toney kind of in-your-face-style where he anchors down and slowly deciphers the opponent’s tools and then takes them away piece by piece. Usually it’s systematic destruction. The kind you see when a skyscraper goes down floor by floor until it’s smoking rubble.
During the Covid days Conwell fought two highly touted undefeated super welters in Wendy Toussaint and Madiyar Ashkeyev. He stopped them both and suddenly was the boogie man of the super welterweight division.
Conwell will be facing Mexico’s taller Garcia who likes to trade blows as most Mexican fighters prefer, especially those from Sinaloa. These guys will be firing H bombs early.
Fundora
Co-headlining the Golden Boy card is Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) the undisputed flyweight champion of the world. She has all the belts and Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs) wants them.
Gabriela Fundora is the sister of Sebastian Fundora who holds the men’s WBC and WBO super welterweight world titles. Both are tall southpaws with power in each hand to protect the belts they accumulated.
Six months ago, Fundora met Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in Las Vegas to determine the undisputed flyweight champion. The much shorter Alaniz tried valiantly to scrap with Fundora and ran into a couple of rocket left hands.
Mexico’s Badillo is an undefeated flyweight from Mexico City who has battled against fellow Mexicans for years. She has fought one world champion in Asley Gonzalez the current super flyweight world titlist. They met years ago with Badillo coming out on top.
Does Badillo have the skill to deal with the taller and hard-hitting Fundora?
When a fighter has a six-inch height advantage like Fundora, it is almost impossible to out-maneuver especially in two-minute rounds. Ask Alaniz who was nearly decapitated when she tried.
This will be Badillo’s first pro fight outside of Mexico.
Commerce Casino
Kazakhstan’s Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0, 13 KOs) is another dangerous punching super welterweight headlining a 360 Promotions card against Mexico’s Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 KOs) on Saturday at the Commerce Casino.
UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card of about eight bouts.
Akhmedov is another Kazakh puncher similar to the great Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who terrorized the middleweight division for a decade. He doesn’t have the same polish or dexterity but doesn’t lack pure punching power.
It’s another test for the super welterweight who is looking to move up the ladder in the very crowded 154-pound weight division. 360 Promotions already has a top contender in Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk who nearly defeated Vergil Ortiz a year ago.
Could Bohachuk and Akhmedov fight each other if nothing else materializes?
That’s a question for another day.
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs); Gabriela Fundora (15-0) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1).
Sat. UFC Fight Pass 6 p.m. Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0) vs Elias Espadas (23-6).
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TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.
Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.
Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)
Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.
The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).
Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”
A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.
Other winners:
Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon
Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney
Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire
Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix
The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.
The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.
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