By Jake Tiernan: Heavyweight Jermaine Franklin (22-2, 14 KOs) battled past a game Isaac ‘Drago’ Munoz (17-1-1, 14 KOs) last Saturday night, winning a one-sided ten round unanimous decision at the Masonic Temple in Detroit.
This was NOT a glittering performance from the more experienced Franklin, as he looked exhausted after five rounds and was forced to eat a lot of hard punches from the slow – but powerful – ‘Drago’ Muno.
Franklin’s stamina problems were hard to ignore, and he’ll have to fix that issue moving forward if he wants to beat the top-ten opposition.
This is the same problem that plagued Franklin in his losses to Dillian Whyte & Anthony Joshua. Franklin ran out of gas after five rounds against those fighters and only fought hard in brief spurts.
What was troubling is that after the fight last night with Munoz, Franklin talked about how he should have been more patent, not jumped on him when he would land a hard shot.
The cold truth of the matter is Franklin was too patient, failing to throw combinations and letting long periods of time go by between each punch thrown.
It looked like Franklin was conserving energy from the fifth round, afraid to empty his depleted gas tank entirely. In other words, he was in the low power mode after round five, allowing a ham & egger heavyweight, Isaac Munoz, to have his moments.
The scores were 99-91, 100-90, and 100-90.
Munoz wore Franklin down
Initially, the fight looked like a total mismatch in the three rounds, with the much faster & more experienced 29-year-old Franklin hitting the slow 6’1,” 257-lb Munoz at will with jabs and right hands to the head.
Franklin hit Munoz a monstrous left uppercut in round three that would have knocked out 99% of the heavyweights in the division, including Anthony Joshua, but the Mexican fighter took it without showing signs of being hurt.
Munoz was hurt by a shot to the backside from Franklin in the third, which looked intentional. That was the only instance where Munoz appeared to be hurt by Franklin.
From the sixth round on, Franklin’s work rate dropped off, and he fought only in spurts from grounds 6-10, letting Munoz take the lead much of the time.
At first, it looked like Franklin was playing possum, hoping to catch Munoz with a single shot to knock him out, but after a while, it was clear that he was tired and couldn’t fight hard from round six on.
After the fight, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn didn’t sound excited bout signing Jermaine Franklin when told he’s a promotional free agent. It’s unsurprising because if Franklin can only fight hard for five rounds, what can Hearn do with him?
“Try to be more aggressive and try to keep my composure, which I lost a little bit in this fight,” said Jermaine Franklin to iFL TV on what he learned from his losses to Dillian Whyte & Anthony Joshua.
“When I was in England, I heard that Daniel Dubois was talking s**t,” said Franklin when asked who he wanted to fight next. “If you’re up for the challenge, if y’all want smoke, we ain’t ducking nothing.
It’s unlikely that Franklin will get a chance to fight Daniel Dubois in his next fight after his performance against Munoz. Franklin will probably need to settle for fighting another obscure heavyweight in his next fight and focus on not running out of gas.
Hearn was impressed by Munoz
“I loved Munoz, loved him. One, his chin is unbelievable. Two, his engine; I thought he was going to fade after two or three rounds,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing Social about the performance of Isaac Munoz in his loss to former top-tier heavyweight Jermaine Franklin last Saturday night.
“I think if he gets himself a little more fitter, I’m not saying he’s going to be a danger to the elite guys, but I think he’s going to have some really good fights with the contenders.”
Wouldn’t it be interesting if Hearn signs Munoz to his Matchroom stable rather than Franklin? It’s pretty obvious why Hearn would choose to ink Munoz instead of Jermaine.
Not only would the price tag be cheaper to ink Munoz than Franklin, but he has more potential to gain a big following if he’s matched against beatable opposition.
“I thought Jermaine boxed really well,” said Hearn. “He tired a little bit. He did have short notice for this fight, but I think he’s a very good heavyweight. I think he’s going to be in good fights as well.
“I just spoke with Dmitry, and he said, ‘Would you like to work with him?’ Of course, but I think he’s going to get a lot of offers,” said Hearn when asked if he’d be interested in signing Jermaine Franklin to the Matchroom Boxing stable, as he’s now a promotional free agent.
Again, it doesn’t sound like Hearn wants to sign Franklin to his company, and you can’t blame him. He doesn’t have the gas tank to win against top-level competition.
If Franklin can’t even dominate a fighter that was brought in to make him look good in Munoz, then the situation is hopeless.
“When you’ve boxed AJ and gone twelve rounds. Someone like Jared Anderson. If I’m Top Rank, I’m looking at Jermaine Franklin, thinking, ‘That’s a good opponent for Jared Anderson.’ I think it’s a tough fight for him,” said Hearn.
