Julius Francis and Mark Roe – From boxing to MMA by Will Hale Aug 2nd 2007

Woolwich's former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Julius Francis was at the famous Peacock Gym in Canning Town today accompanied by long-time trainer Mark Roe to announce his MMA debut for the Cage Rage organisation. There had been rumours of the 42-year-old moving into Cage Rage ever since he appeared at Cage Rage 22 at Wembley last month. Francis has signed a two-fight deal, the first of which sees him fight Gary “Smiler” Turner at Cage Rage 23 on the 22nd September. Julius was a late starter in boxing; he turned pro in 1993 at 28 after a ten-year amateur career that was sparsely populated with just sixteen fights donned in the head gear. Julius, still so engaging and able to carry a story, remembers his boxing beginnings. “I came home one Wednesday evening, swinged on the TV and a guy [Dave Stewert] that I went to school with was boxing. He won the London ABA title. I thought “I can do that!, I'm big and strong!” “I bumped into him on the Saturday and said ‘Look, I've got muscles, I can do that'. So he said ‘Alright, get yourself a gum shield, meet me and we'll go to the gym.'” “We went to the gym and it came to sparring. He beat the crap out of me, without trying. He didn't take liberties with me, but the difference was that he could box and I couldn't. “From that day, I was absolutely hooked on boxing.” Francis was eighteen years old. Although he clearly says that boxing was his first love in terms of combat sports, Julius did his fair share of playing the field in the early days. “I had a fairly limited amateur career, but in-between I took up kung-fu, did a little bit of karate, then I went to tae-kwon-do and then I went to kickboxing. I actually trained Thai [boxing], but fought full contact. All this time I was boxing amateur.” At 26, a curious friend asked Julius if he'd thought of turning to boxing's paid ranks, but he shrugged it off. He elaborates,” Because I hadn't done anything as an amateur, it didn't appeal to me because I'd said to myself that if I was going to become a professional fighter, I want to win a amateur title first.” However, Julius did turn professional two years later and he set himself the career goal of becoming the British heavyweight champion. After only six paid starts (all wins), Francis was bunged in against future WBA champ John Ruiz in 1994 in Bristol. At the time, The “Quiet Man” was 16-1 with nine quick wins. Roe put the four-round stoppage loss into today's context, “Julius fought Ruiz after only a few fights, you didn't see the Danny Williamses and Matt Skeltons fight that calibre of fighter in their early fights. “Without being disrespectful to anybody, If I was steering Julius then, I wouldn't have gone for that type of fight. It's all about building confidence, and after getting beat like that it takes a few fights to return to the level you were at.” “But in saying that, Julius was never ever one to shy away from fighting anyone. And you could go so far as to say that he learnt his trade the hard way. When Julius had to step up to win the British title, he got it first time.” The Ruiz fight would in fact only be the start of Julius' days as the underdog. Time and time again over his thirteen-year career he'd box house fighters abroad in their backyards. The names are truly intimidating, Mavrovic, Schulz, Vitali Klitschko, Samil Sam, Virchis, Krasniqi and Maskaev. With regard to some of the aforementioned nights at the office, Francis feels he should have got the decision (Schulz, Virchis and Krasniqi). In others, he feels he got the run around (when he arrived in Germany in April 1998 he was due to fight Wladimir Klitschko, not elder brother Vitali). In addition, the seventh-round stoppage loss he received from German-based Turk Samil Sam was aided by the fact he had broken two ribs. This occurred two weeks prior to the fight in a row he and his car had with a lamppost. But it's clear that Francis and Roe still take enormous pride from Julius' dominant times at the centre of the domestic stage. After claiming the vacant British and Commonwealth straps against blown-up cruiser Garry Delaney in September 1997, Francis' first defence was against Brummie banger Pelé Reid. Pele had received the full build up from Sky Sports. The then Ingle-trained ex-kickboxing champion had blitzed all comers inside two rounds. Julius sets the scene, “The fight was originally against Danny Williams. We'd sparred countless times and I knew what he was about. But he got an injury and had to pull out. So up steps Pelé Reid.” “I said I was going to knock him out. And I never used to say things like that. But I felt it was disrespectful that someone like a Pelé Reid who hadn't really paid his dues got to the position of fighting for a championship, and that's not knocking Pelé personally.” Moreover, the then-British champion was at the time experiencing a surge of emotion, his closest friend having died in November 98. Julius fixes eye-contact and says, “There was just a hell of a lot of emotion driving me on. A really sad time. But also a really good time.” So with these bitter-sweet emotions he went into the fight. Francis remembers, ”Pelé was one of the hardest punchers that I've ever been in the ring with. He caught me with a right uppercut after switching his feet and I saw tweety birds like a cartoon character.” But Pelé seemed lost after the opener and Julius destroyed him over the next two rounds. The other hot up-and-comer at the time, Danny Williams, would be next to try and take the domestic crown off the man who was perceived as a kind of ugly duckling champion. Julius outscored Danny over twelve rounds and doesn't feel he got given due credit for his big win over undefeated opposition. Conventional thought on the fight reads that it was the first of many times that that the wrong Danny Williams would show up to fight. But Julius begs to differ, “After the fight, everybody was saying, Danny this and Danny that, but Danny never beat himself. Jim Watt summed it up well on the night when he said that Danny didn't have a game plan. He went in thinking he was gonna walk through me and knock me out.” And the story for the fighter who had already achieved his career goal of a Lonsdale belt continued into an unimaginable chapter. After reversing a previous loss to Scott Welch, he was picked for a fight against Mike Tyson in Manchester. True, Julius was demolished that night, but trainer Mark Roe may also be correct in stating that Francis lost to better Tyson than Lewis and Williams beat down the line. Post-Tyson, Julius drifted into a journeyman role, taking cheques both in the UK and abroad. He was often overweight and allowed himself to be outworked. Consequently, his 23-24-1 (8) final tab doesn't really reflect his ability. After leaving boxing in May last year, Julius returns in September to combat in the cage rather than the ring. The initial feeling that may be floating through your minds is that Julius is just showing up for another payday. The cynic inside of you may sneer “He's simply selling his name to an upcoming company that is looking to buy into boxing's fan base”. So, I thought I'd ask. In response to the question of whether he is going to Cage Rage with ambition, Francis replied, “Listen, this MMA game is very dangerous. It isn't something to come into lightly. Mark asked me a year ago if I fancied a shot at it and I said no. I said that if I did it, I wanted to do it properly.” And now Julius is convinced he can do the necessary to give the new format a real go. He has been training with Rob Sulski, a name trainer in the world of MMA, in order to improve on his wresting and jujitsu and has also been working with a separate coach on kicks. Mark Roe continued, “Julius was a kick boxer before he turned pro. He obviously has the boxing. And you just have to look at the work he's putting in the gym on wrestling to see that he's serious about this.” Julius was never one to shy away from a fight…..

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