Julius Francis

Julius Francis (born 8 December 1964) is a British former professional boxer who participated in many noteworthy boxing matches in the mid 90s and 2000s. In 2007, he also participated in a mixed martial arts bout, having been a former European heavyweight kickboxing champion.

Boxing career

Early career

After a troubled youth that saw him spend several spells in prison,^[1][2] Francis turned pro in 1993 at the late age of 28 with a five-round knockout of Graham Arnold. He put together six wins (three by knockout), including two in the US, before being matched with future world heavyweight champion John Ruiz. Francis was stopped in four 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 defeated the Nigerian in 5 rounds by knockout.

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 took a knee from body shots in the 8th and watched the ref wave the fight off.

Experienced pro

In June, Francis was back, outpointing the hard hitting Zambian Joseph Chingangu in London for the Commonwealth title, and in September retained his Commonwealth title and won the vacant British title with a sixth-round knockout of Garry Delaney in Northern Ireland.

His manager Kellie Maloney was unsuccessful in attempting to move Francis up in 1998, as he was outpointed in Germany by local icon Axel Schulz in a European title eliminator, and a second visit to German shores saw him decked three times and stopped in the second round by giant Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko. Klitschko would go on to win the World Heavyweight title.

In 1999, Francis was back and enjoyed the best form of his career. In January, he defended his British and Commonwealth titles against the flamboyant, hard hitting and highly rated prospect Pelé Reid, who was 13–0 (13 knockouts) and favoured to beat Francis. Francis beat Reid in three rounds by knockout.

In April, he was again the underdog as he defended against another highly rated prospect, this time Frank Warren's undefeated Danny Williams, who was 15–0 (12 knockouts).^[3] Francis used all his smarts to widely outpoint the "Brixton Bomber".^[4] This win gave Francis the coveted Lonsdale Belt outright as he had now won three British title fights.

In June, he enjoyed the sweetest victory of his career as he outpointed former conqueror Scott Welch who was 22–3 (17 knockouts). He would vacate his Commonwealth title later in the year to set up the biggest fight of his career. At the age of 35, Francis got a shot at visiting iconic ex-champ Mike Tyson, in Manchester in January 2000. Francis was decked five times and lost in two rounds, although enjoyed the biggest payday of his career (around £350,000).^[1][5][6] The certainty of his defeat can be gauged by the fact that The Mirror, a national newspaper in the UK, had paid £20,000 for an advert on the soles of Francis's shoes.^[3][5][7] Less than two months later, an uninterested Francis was back in the ring and lost his British title on a close decision to Michael Holden, whom he had already beaten. Holden would later vacate the title due to injury.

In 2001, Francis returned to complete his trilogy with Holden, outpointing him over 12 rounds, and setting up a July rematch with Danny Williams, who was now #1 in the UK, world rated, and held the British and Commonwealth titles. Francis failed to repeat his earlier win, losing in the fourth round due to a swollen eye.

He would resurface in September 2002 in Denmark, scoring an upset over undefeated Steffen Nielsen, who he knocked out in 6. This earned him a European title shot in Germany against the Turk Sinan Samil Sam, who had just crushed Danny Williams in six rounds. Francis appeared to make little effort, quitting in the seventh round from body shots.

In early 2009, he began a new career with Fightfit Training, a UK-based fitness training company, as a personal trainer and boxing coach teaching city professionals the art of boxing.

Downward slide

Francis was now 38 years old and with a respectable record of 23–10–1 (12 knockouts).

He would mix in with high class company in the UK, Germany, Russia, and other locations, but he would not win another fight. The most notable fights were a November 2003 second-round KO loss to future champ Oleg Maskaev (26–5), a February 2004 decision loss to fast rising Matt Skelton (11–0), and a May 2004 decision loss to Olympic Champion Audley Harrison (15–0).

Francis appeared to have reached the end of the road in May 2006, when he was outpointed over four rounds by unknown Scott Lansdowne. He was 41 years old and weighed well over 19 stone. Having lost 14 fights in a row, his record now stood at 23–24–1 (12 knockouts).

Overall, Francis has won four British Heavyweight title fights and five Commonwealth title fights, as well as two challenges for the European title and he has fought four former or future World champions, besides owning his very own much heralded Lonsdale Belt.

Life after boxing

Mixed martial arts career

In the summer of 2007, Francis announced that at Cage Rage 23: Unbelievable on 22 September 2007 he would be making his mixed martial arts debut against Gary Turner.^[1][4] Francis stated that he expected the move to mixed martial arts to be comfortable for him as he was already a good kickboxer before he took up boxing. His opponent Gary Turner was previously beaten by Matt Skelton, one of Francis's own conquerors, in a K-1 tournament in 2000.

Francis lost his MMA bout against Turner by TKO (submission to punches) at 2:15 in round 2.^[4]

Other activities

In 2012, Francis starred in the stage play Ring Envy, a modern version of Shakespeare's Othello in London, his performance earning praise from the likes of Sylvia Syms.^[1]

In June 2022, whilst working at a gig as security at Boxpark Wembley, Francis went viral for knocking out a man who was acting aggressively to numerous members of the public.^[8] Roger Wade, the founder and CEO of Boxpark, was quick to defend Julius after it was revealed that the man had been acting aggressively for up to 15 minutes before Julius punched him.^[9] Other employees of Boxpark also spoke to the press in support of Julius, praising his character.^[10] The viral video showed the man in question pushing several members of staff and attempting, unsuccessfully, to punch both patrons and members of security. In the moments before Julius knocked the man unconscious, the man could be seen approaching Julius, shouting and raising his fist. The metropolitan police reviewed the video in question, but ultimately concluded that Julius had acted reasonably and legally.^[10]

Professional boxing record

23 Wins (12 knockouts, 11 decisions), 24 Losses (8 knockouts, 16 decisions), 1 Draws
Res.	Record	Opponent	Type	Rd.	Date	Location	Notes
Loss	23–24–1	Scott Lansdowne	PTS	4 (4)	21 May 2006	York Hall, London
Loss	23–23–1	Scott Gammer	PTS	8 (8)	30 September 2005	Showground, Carmarthen
Loss	23–22–1	Colin Kenna	PTS	4 (4)	26 June 2005	Guildhall, Southampton
Loss	23–21–1	Micky Steeds	PTS	8 (8)	24 April 2005	Equinox Nightclub, Leicester Square, London
Loss	23–20–1	Roman Greenberg	PTS	10 (10)	10 December 2004	Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Sheffield
Loss	23–19–1	Taras Bydenko	UD	10 (10)	21 September 2004	Universum Gym, Wandsbek, Hamburg
Loss	23–18–1	Alexander Dimitrenko	UD	8 (8)	31 July 2004	Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart
Loss	23–17–1	Audley Harrison	UD	12 (12)	8 May 2004	Whitchurch Leisure Centre, Bristol	World Boxing Foundation heavyweight title
Loss	23–16–1	Matt Skelton	PTS	10 (10)	7 February 2004	York Hall, London	BBBofC English heavyweight title
Loss	23–15–1	Oleg Maskaev	TKO	2 (10)	27 November 2003	Olimpyskiy Sports Palace, Chekhov
Loss	23–14–1	Luan Krasniqi	UD	8 (8)	18 October 2003	Color Line Arena, Altona, Hamburg
Loss	23–13–1	Volodymyr Vyrchys	UD	12 (12)	6 September 2003	Sport Palace, Kyiv
Loss	23–12–1	Steffen Nielsen	UD	10 (10)	13 June 2003	Aalborg Hallen, Aalborg	European heavyweight title
Loss	23–11–1	Sinan Samil Sam	TKO	7 (12)	26 April 2003	Sport and Congress Center, Schwerin	European heavyweight title
Win	23–10–1	Steffen Nielsen	KO	6 (8)	13 September 2002	Randers Hallen, Randers
Draw	22–10–1	Luke Simpkin	PTS	6 (6)	10 May 2002	Britannia Hotel, London
Loss	22–10	Danny Williams	TKO	4 (12)	28 July 2001	Conference Centre, London	BBBofC British heavyweight title and Commonwealth (British Empire) heavyweight title
Win	22–9	Mike Holden	PTS	12 (12)	30 April 2001	York Hall, London	Won vacant WBO Inter-Continental heavyweight title
Loss	21–9	Mike Holden	PTS	12 (12)	13 March 2000	York Hall, London	Lost BBBofC British heavyweight title
Loss	21–8	Mike Tyson	KO	2 (10)	29 January 2000	M.E.N. Arena, Manchester
Win	21–7	Scott Welch	PTS	12 (12)	26 June 1999	New London Arena, Millwall, London	Retained BBBofC British heavyweight title and Commonwealth (British Empire) heavyweight title
Win	20–7	Danny Williams	PTS	12 (12)	3 April 1999	Royal Albert Hall, London	Retained BBBofC British heavyweight title and Commonwealth (British Empire) heavyweight title
Win	19–7	Pelé Reid	TKO	3 (12), 2:28	30 January 1999	York Hall, London	Retained BBBofC British heavyweight title and Commonwealth (British Empire) heavyweight title
Loss	18–7	Vitali Klitschko	TKO	2 (12)	18 April 1998	Eurogress, Aachen
Loss	18–6	Axel Schulz	UD	12 (12)	28 February 1998	Arena Westfalenhalle, Dortmund
Win	18–5	Garry Delaney	TKO	6 (12), 2:31	27 September 1997	Ulster Hall, Belfast	Won vacant BBBofC British heavyweight title; Retained Commonwealth (British Empire) heavyweight title
Win	17–5	Joseph Chingangu	PTS	12 (12)	30 June 1997	York Hall, London	Won vacant Commonwealth (British Empire) heavyweight title
Loss	16–5	Željko Mavrović	TKO	8 (12)	15 February 1997	Kurhalle Oberlaa, Vienna	European heavyweight title
Win	16–4	James Oyebola	TKO	5 (10)	28 September 1996	London	Retained BBBofC Southern Area heavyweight title
Win	15–4	Michael Holden	PTS	10 (10)	9 July 1996	York Hall, London
Win	14–4	Darren Fearn	PTS	8 (8)	7 May 1996	Marriott Hotel, Mayfair, London
Win	13–4	Damien Caesar	KO	1 (10)	9 April 1996	Leisure Centre, Stevenage, Hertfordshire	Won vacant BBBofC Southern Area heavyweight title
Loss	12–4	Michael Murray	PTS	10 (10)	5 February 1996	Crook Log Sports Club, Bexleyheath, London
Loss	12–3	Nikolay Kulpin	PTS	10 (10)	30 November 1995	Circus, Saratov
Win	12–2	Neil Kirkwood	TKO	7 (10)	24 October 1995	Elephant & Castle Centre, London
Loss	11–2	Scott Welch	KO	10 (10), 2:26	1 July 1995	Royal Albert Hall, London	Lost BBBofC Southern Area heavyweight title
Win	11–1	Steve Garber	PTS	8 (8)	25 May 1995	Rivermead Leisure Centre, Reading
Win	10–1	Keith Fletcher	PTS	10 (10)	27 April 1995	York Hall, London	Retained BBBofC Southern Area heavyweight title
Win	9–1	Damien Caesar	TKO	8 (10)	23 February 1995	Elephant & Castle Centre, London	Won vacant BBBofC Southern Area heavyweight title
Win	8–1	Gary Charlton	TKO	1 (6)	23 November 1994	Cafe Royal, London
Win	7–1	Conroy Nelson	TKO	4 (8)	12 November 1994	The Point, Dublin
Loss	6–1	John Ruiz	KO	4 (8), 2:38	25 May 1994	Colston Hall, Bristol
Win	6–0	Manny Burgo	PTS	4 (4)	27 April 1994	York Hall, London
Win	5–0	John Keeton	PTS	4 (4)	1 December 1993	York Hall, London
Win	4–0	Don Sargent	TKO	2 (4)	28 August 1993	Civic Center, Bismarck, North Dakota
Win	3–0	Andre Tisdale	PTS	4 (4)	24 July 1993	Showboat Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Win	2–0	Joey Paladino	KO	4 (4)	23 June 1993	Picketts Lock Stadium, London
Win	1–0	Graham Arnold	TKO	5 (6), 0:28	23 May 1993	Crofton Leisure Centre, London

Mixed martial arts record

References

External links

• Boxing record for Julius Francis from BoxRec (registration required)
• Professional MMA record for Julius Francis from Sherdog