Francisco scores sixteenth career knockout
Unbeaten Filipino super-flyweight Drian Francisco picked up the interim WBA Super-Flyweight Title on Tuesday night with a tenth round TKO over Thailand’s Duangpetch Kokietgym in Nong Khai, Thailand.
Francisco, 28, has won 20 of his 21 contests, is yet to taste defeat in his five-year career and will gain the title vacated by Nonito Donaire, who fights this Saturday night after moving up to Bantamweight.
His next challenge will be against tough Mexican Hugo Fidel Cazares or Japan’s Hiroyuki Hisataka, who meet for the WBA Title on the 23rd of December in Osaka, Japan, with the bout scheduled for early spring.
His opponent had and impressive record of 52 wins in 54 bouts before the knockout, with the 30 year-old’s only loss being a knockout in his second contest thirteen years ago as a seventeen year-old.
Kokietgym was taken to hospital as a precaution after taking his time to regain consiousness. He was floored twice in the sixth round, before being caught with a sickening uppercut in the tenth round, which led the referee to stop the fight.