No Joy for Julius at Cage Rage by Kevin Taylor Sep 22nd 2007

Weighing in at a massive 20st 12lbs, Julius Francis lost his Cage Rage debut tonight at Wembley Arena, when he was forced to quit after 2:15 of the second of three five-minutes rounds. Julius looked totally out of shape despite saying his training and conditioning had gone well in the pre-fight interview and at 43 this might be the last we see of Julius in the ring or cage. Julius couldn't get his jab going and was soon taken to the ground by Gary 'Smiley' Turner, and the action, or lack of it, took place on the mat for over three minutes of the first round. The second started with Francis again looking to jab, but Turner was landing with the kicks, and then a knee seemed to take all of the wind out of Francis and he quit while down. Also on the bill which was being watched by new owner of the Cage Rage series, Gary Shaw and his EliteXC group, former professional boxer James Zikic lost his World Cage Rage light-heavyweight title by unanimous decision to Victor Belfort.

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No offence intended, Malc!!! Oct 3rd 2007, 16:21:01 by metchampion To be fair, I did say that BBN was 'excellent' & 'Informative'. I subscribe to it and look forward to going online daily to read any new updates. Without doubt, it is the best site on BBBofC licensed boxing in the UK. I wasn't having a go at BBN or their contributors. I was merely requesting that they didn't report on things other than pure boxing as a matter of course. Of course I like to know whatever ex pro's are up to.even if it's winning a cooking comp!! Regards, Metchampion.   Gary Turner speaks about Julius Sep 26th 2007, 08:40:30 by smiler Hi! I fought Julius saturday night, you can find info on me at www.teamgaryturner.com Julius did real well saturday, much better than I expected, and he should get your respect for entering the ring. He's also helped raise boxing's profile again, as more people were talking about it. It is a different sport to boxing, and he had done his homework, and learned alot in a short space of time. I just think that he chose a difficult first opponent - I was 100% on form and kinda have alot of experience... So please, give Julius some respect! Best regards, Smiler   Gary Turner speaks about Julius Sep 26th 2007, 08:37:10 by smiler Hi! Just to let you know fighters are on the internet too, lol! Yep, I fought Julius saturday night, and feel that I need to point a few things out. Want to find out more about me? Have a look at www.teamgaryturner.com. You'll see that I'm a wee bit more than just a domestic fighter! Julius was really up against it. You'll see from my records that I've fought Matt Skelton, Lee Swaby, trained with and been in the British Kickboxing Team with Pele Reid, fought him many, many times under light continuous kickboxing rules, and was at the side of the mat when he sparked Vitaly Klischko in Bulgaria, and saw Vitaly narrowly beat my British Team Mate Barrington Patterson for the World Title in Kiev. I have the utmost respect for boxers, and the sport of boxing, and cross train in boxing to improve my hands for kickboxing and MMA. But thats me. Smiler   MetChampion Sep 24th 2007, 10:10:40 by Malc Come on metchampion. How can you possibly have a go at Kevin for writing a report on Julius Francis, he's an ex-pro for godsakes and it's a worthy news story for a boxing site, he doesn't do a full review of the whole show. I know he covered the Cage rage show before but i think that was more as let's go and see what they have to offer. The product is crap, but the crowds are far bigger than most boxing events! And as for reasonably update to date, what other British site is as up to date as BBN? It's not as if you are paying to view the site, and it's easy enough to skip the stories you are not interested in. How much money do you think BBN make a year? I would say very, very little for the great service they are providing to the fans out there and to British boxing in general! I would pay to read BBN and I have forsaken Boxing News for it as everything I need is on BBN and is there quickly! Malc Thanks for the vote of confidence, Malc. I understand MetChampion wanting to be protective of the purity of boxing but you're right to say fight fans would be interested in the likes of Julius Francis. I'm not just saying this because I'm involved but no website comes close on the British scene. Ian McNeilly, Editor   Pure Boxing Please Sep 23rd 2007, 14:13:13 by james ivory That's it Ian,protect our beloved sport. If Cage rage/UFC attracts 43 year old ex-boxers to raise its profile,personally I dont think it has much future,if you speak to any major promoter within the boxing world,they are of the opinion that its 'just a flash in the pan'. RIP UFC James ivory   Boxing? Sep 23rd 2007, 02:31:28 by metchampion Kev, yours is an excellent site, very informative, reasonably up to date and interesting too. But please, it is a boxing site, not MMA or Cage rage. Please stick to our code. I know snippets about ex pro's expolits are of interest, but please don't go down the route of filing a report on this type of event as a matter of course, it detracts from what this site is about. Thanks for this. No, we are not going to be filing copy on MMA or whatever as a matter of course. I am going to stick to things which are feature-based (i.e. promotional differences/what boxing could learn from the business side of it, etc) or the odd former pro's exploits. I'm not a fan of MMA personally. The pieces will only be very occasional anyway. Ian McNeilly, Editor.