Drian kayoes Thai, claims interim title

MANILA, Philippines - Unbeaten Drian Francisco made good in his overseas debut, unleashing a devastating right upper hook to knock out Duangpetch Kokiet-Gym in the 10th and capture the WBA interim super flyweight crown before a hostile crowd at the Bungkan School in Nongkhai, Thailand yesterday.

Francisco, 28, dropped Duangpetch twice in the sixth round then finished off the Thai with a tough right upper hook to the jaw in the 10th in their 115-lb showdown. He hiked his record to 21-0-1, including 17 KOs.

The Thai was taken to the hospital on a stretcher and remained unconscious hours after he was knocked out by the Filipino fighter.

It was Kokiet-Gym’s first setback since 2007.

The rousing victory lined up the power-punching Francisco for a shot at the WBA super flyweight crown currenly held by Hugo Cazares.

Cazares is set to slug it out with Japan’s Hiroyuki Hisataka on Dec. 23 for his third title defense in Osaka.

In a clash of styles, Francisco looked to stay on the outside and pick his opponent apart while Kokiet-Gym’s tactic was to pressure his opponent into infighting.

Francisco came out strong in their scheduled 12-round duel but the Thai recovered and struck back in the third round in front of a partisan home crowd. The Filipino fighter looked extremely uncomfortable as his opponent roughed him up with a combination of legal and illegal blows, according to Philboxing report.

Holding and hitting was a feature of the fight and Kokiet-Gym also repeatedly landed intentional low blows.

In the end, the ploy seemed to have backfired as the referee finally saw fit to deduct a point from the Thai in the sixth. After being given time to recover, Francisco came through with solid combinations and knocked Kokiet-Gym down with a left hook and right uppercut.

The Thai fighter needed the full 10 seconds to get up and Francisco set about finishing the fight, dropping him towards the end of the round with another right hook. Kokiet-Gym survived the round and countered in the seventh, pressuring Francisco, who looked extremely uncomfortable fighting at close range.

But the knockdowns had clearly slowed down the veteran Thai although he still looked slightly the fresher of the two fighters.

Francisco came back strong again in the eighth and landed another big uppercut. He was looking for a right cross against the southpaw and Kokiet-Gym was repeatedly on the receiving end of some solid shots.

Another clearly deliberate low blow by the Thai fighter

had the fight stopped again although Kokiet-Gym escaped with a point deduction.

The Filipino had an insurmountable lead on the scorecards but looked visibly exhausted and slightly unsteady in his feet as the bell sounded.