Jermaine Franklin (22-2, 14 KOs) got back to his winning ways with a decisive ten round unanimous decision over Isaac Munoz (17-1-1, 14 KOs) in heavyweight action last Saturday night at the Masonic Temple in Detroit, Michigan.
Franklin showed superb hand speed and excellent punching power in pounding out a decision by the scores of 100-90, 100-90, and 99-91.
Jermaine started quickly, connecting with big head-snapping right hands and uppercuts in the first three rounds that had Munoz looking overmatched.
Perhaps if not for the weight of the 257-lb Munoz, he might have crumbled under the heavy assault by Franklin in the first five rounds, as he was hit with some shots that would have done in a lighter heavyweight.
The third would be particularly brutal for Munoz, getting hit by a tremendous left uppercut from Franklin that sent sweat flying. Munoz took it well but was hit with a shot to the backside that hurt him.
For the remainder of the round, Munoz looked like he was still feeling the effects of that punch. Munoz, 31, was brought in to face Franklin on two weeks’ notice, so neither fighter had much time to prepare for the contest.
To his credit, Munoz showed he could compete with a top-tier heavyweight in Franklin, who had vastly more experience. After the fight, prompter Eddie Hearn seemed proud of Munoz’s performance and seemed more interested in talking about him than Franklin.
Franklin disappointed in performance
“I feel like I had a decent performance. I feel like I could have did more. I’m adjusting to a new style, trying to be more aggressive, trying not to hold back so much and let the hands go,” said Jermaine Franklin to iFL TV after his win over Isaac Munoz last Saturday night.
Franklin really needed a knockout in this fight to show the boxing public that he’s improved from his recent loss to Anthony Joshua last April.
Did Franklin prove that he’s gotten better since that loss? I think not. In some ways, this was a worse performance than what we’d seen in Franklin’s loss to Joshua because he gassed out early and took punishment from the unknown Munoz.
“When I hit somebody, I get happy, and that’s my problem,” Franklin said when asked if he thought he could knockout Munoz after he nailed him with some big shots in the early rounds.
“I hit hard, and I was like, ‘I want to kill you’ when I need to just relax and set the punches up. When I hit him with an uppercut [in round three], I was instantly like a deer in the headlights. I’m like, ‘What can I hit him with again?’
“I can’t remember which round, but I caught him with a body shot, and he bent over, and I became a deer in the headlights again. That’s one of the things we’re working on.
“Being aggressive and staying poised in those types of situations because I felt like I could have gotten the job done if I wasn’t rushing it into the bombing.
“What you said about the O, that’s the new era of boxing. I’m in the era, but I’m in the old era when the guys fought real guys. When you took a loss to Tommy Hearns or Sugar Ray Leonard, who is going to complain about that? You just lost to a legend and future Hall of Famer.
Jermaine wants top 15 opponent
“I feel like if the tough guys are fighting tough guys; we shouldn’t be crying about losses. These are the top ten guys fighting each other. That’s what the sport needs. I’m just working to that position to get it back there.
“I want anybody in the top 15. I want any world champion. Anybody in the top 10, top 5, or top 15, we’re coming after anybody. I probably can’t give you any solidified names because there are a lot of names on the list.
“Everything is coming into place. We only had a couple of weeks. As time goes by and we get the style together, it’s going to be way spectacular performances from now.
“My will is like no other. They used to ask me as I went into the AJ fight, am I scared, or am I worried about getting knocked out? No, it’s. Every boxer, in the beginning, has little butterflies. If you’re scared to fight, you’re in the wrong game.
“I never go in there unsure about myself or worried about the opponent,” said Franklin.
