Gainsborough's Ricardo Franco set for 'bout they all want to see'

Ricardo Franco is set for a fight the fans cannot wait to see. Pic by Photography by Brooklyn Freeman.

The 27 year old from Gainsborough stunned pound-for-pound star Jimmy Sweeney last November, taking away his world lightweight championship with a shock retirement win.

Sweeney was set to fight Tyler Goodjohn next, but last week, Goodjohn announced he was quitting fighting.

Promoters BKB appear set to announce in the next few days that Sweeney and Franco will meet in a rematch on their next show, pencilled in for August.

Franco said: “Everyone wants to see the rematch and it makes sense for both of us.

“I haven’t heard anything definite yet, but Jimmy put a post on Facebook the other day saying he’s training for me and I’m training for him.

“I will get the job done this time and finish him (inside the distance).

“He’s never been finished before and to do it would be unreal.

“Jimmy is the sort of fighter who will get back up and fight to the death – and so am I.

“It’s going to be a great fight.”

Franco believes there’s no way Sweeney can beat him.

“I will too fast and quick again,” he said. “I can’t see him beating me.

“In the first fight, I followed the game plan – apart from the third round (when Franco was floored twice).

“I know what I did wrong. I got too comfortable.

“Apart from that, I controlled him with my feet. I put him under pressure with my feet, jabbed to his face and body and looked to walk him onto big shots.

“We worked on that for nine weeks and it worked perfectly on the night.

“If I do the same in the rematch and he does the same, there’s only one winner.”

Franco took a lot of satisfaction from the win over Sweeney.

“Jimmy was a top amateur boxer, an international,” he said, “and to outbox him the way I did shows I’m not just an MMA fighter.

“Boxing is my strength. I have fast feet and can get in and out quickly. It’s only going to be a short career if you take too much punishment.”

Franco believes it was the prospect of taking more punishment persuaded Goodjohn to retire.

He said: “I don’t think Tyler really wants it anymore.

“He beat Sean George and he’s a big name in BKB, but he isn’t really in his prime anymore.

“He’s had a lot of hard fights and Tyler still couldn’t finish him. He still went the full seven rounds. After that, I think Tyler thought: ‘This is too hard for me.’

“He’s taken too much punishment and I think he knew Jimmy was going to beat him.

“Tyler loves the attention and wants to be a celebrity, but nobody is bothered about him.

“He says he wants to fight in America and messages Artem Lobov, but nobody cares about him in America. Nobody cares about him and Lobov.

“Nobody would care about me and Lobov either. You have to build your name if you want fights like that and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

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