Rohan Polanco vs Cesar Francis (28-07-2023) Full Fight
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Transcript
00:00 - A little bit.
00:00 - Okay, we went over the instructions in the dressing room.
00:06 Any punches here will be good, a key C, okay?
00:09 Any punches here will be good.
00:10 I want you to obey my commands
00:11 and give me a good, clean fight.
00:12 Touch him up, scoot back.
00:14 - Pretty hard, right? - Yep, I got it.
00:17 - We got a Dominican and a Panamanian in the ring.
00:20 Rohan Polanco represented the Dominican Republic
00:23 in the Tokyo Olympics, and Cesar Francis,
00:27 he grew up in the gym with Jovan Guzman
00:31 and Agapito Sanchez, two Dominican champions,
00:36 and they used to beat him up to tears,
00:38 but he said, "That created my toughness,
00:41 "and that's why I am where I am today,"
00:44 challenging Rohan Polanco,
00:45 trying to take his undefeated record.
00:48 - Man, I got a great story.
00:50 First time going down to the Coachella, well,
00:55 say, when I decided to turn professional.
00:57 Went down to Coachella Boxing Club,
00:59 and Jovan Guzman was there.
01:03 - Jovan? - Yeah.
01:05 Well, Guzman was there.
01:06 I actually shared the ring phone with him the first time,
01:10 and he was the first one to give me my cosign
01:13 that I was gonna be a world champion.
01:15 - So he double-stamped Tim Bradley
01:16 before Tim Bradley was double-stamping Prospect.
01:18 - I wasn't even pro yet.
01:19 I was deciding to turn pro.
01:21 I was looking for a trainer,
01:23 and that's when I ran across Jovan Diaz.
01:25 - There's a short right from Rohan Polanco.
01:28 Oh, this is gonna be a great battle right here.
01:30 This is gonna be a high-speed chest match
01:33 with good power from both men.
01:37 One of the biggest differences is that
01:40 Polanco's gonna have to reach like that
01:42 because Francis has a 4 1/2-inch reach advantage.
01:45 You've seen this past week
01:51 a fighter with a shorter reach advantage
01:54 and how he was able to win the battle
01:56 of the jab against a taller fighter.
02:01 And he did it exactly what Polanco's doing right now,
02:08 on the stab jab, right down to the body.
02:11 The head moves, but the body doesn't.
02:13 - There's that stick once again from Polanco.
02:16 Now bring it up to the head of Cesar Francis.
02:19 Now puts those punches together
02:23 and uses that forearm to keep Francis at bay.
02:25 There's that stab jab.
02:28 - That was a great sequence right there.
02:29 I like the follow-up.
02:31 You know, he chained together
02:33 a couple of combinations together.
02:35 That was nice work by Polanco.
02:37 - I think next time I see you, Tim,
02:40 August 12th for the Oscar Valdez-Emmanuel Navarrete fight,
02:44 you're gonna be wearing those shoes like Francis got.
02:47 - Oh, those sparkly ones? - Flash, baby.
02:48 - Oh, man, those are nice.
02:50 - They are sharp.
02:51 - Those are bedazzled out, huh?
02:53 - Those are fresh.
02:54 That was a good jab.
02:57 So you see the hesitation in the taller fighter.
03:04 The hesitation is that he's getting caught with counters.
03:07 You know, Polanco has good timing.
03:10 Nice little left hook right there from him,
03:13 trying to sneak inside the guard of Francis,
03:16 but 10 seconds.
03:18 - Well, Denise Estrada is our main event fighter tonight,
03:21 and while her dad took her to the gym,
03:23 her mom had doubts about her career path,
03:25 but Sonesa had a vision of what she could be.
03:28 - Mom didn't want you boxing.
03:33 - Mom didn't want me boxing.
03:34 - She's right.
03:34 Who the hell would want this for their kid?
03:36 - For a long time, it was really difficult
03:38 for me to understand why my mom wasn't supportive,
03:40 and now, now that I'm older, I totally understand.
03:45 We've had so many talks over it,
03:48 so many talks about my career throughout the years,
03:50 because, of course, every mother,
03:52 their concern is their kid getting hurt boxing,
03:57 but not only was she concerned about me getting hurt,
04:01 but I'm a little girl in a male-dominated sport,
04:05 so her other concern was,
04:06 how are you gonna possibly make a career,
04:09 make a living out of this?
04:10 And I would always tell her, I would say,
04:12 "Well, like, Mom, this is what I'm gonna spend my life doing
04:14 "and I'm gonna be successful at it.
04:16 "I'm going to be able to make a living out of this."
04:19 (crowd cheering)
04:20 (buzzer)
04:21 - Turns out, Senisa Estrada is pretty good
04:24 at this boxing thing,
04:26 and she is looking for her 25th professional win,
04:30 hopes to be undisputed champion
04:32 at 105 pounds before the year is out.
04:37 All right, round two of a scheduled eight-rounder
04:40 between Olympian Rojan Polanco for the Dominican Republic
04:43 and Cesar Francis from Panama
04:46 in the purple and orange colors,
04:51 Miami Heat colors, maybe?
04:52 Oh, no, New York Knicks.
04:53 He's from Brooklyn, New York, so could go both ways.
04:56 - Yeah, both are natural counterpunchers.
05:00 That's why you're seeing a whole lot of posing,
05:02 both guys standing in front,
05:03 no one willing to commit and take a risk.
05:06 Yeah, Francis, now, he came out active with his jab,
05:11 throwing the jab at the shoulder
05:13 and the forearm of Polanco.
05:16 That's a pretty good tactic,
05:18 especially when you have a guy
05:19 that goes in the low-high guard or the Philly Shell
05:23 or whatever you wanna call it.
05:24 It's a great place to hit, that little space in between,
05:28 right on the shoulder and the chin.
05:29 That's what he's aiming for.
05:31 - And the fact that he has a longer reach
05:35 helps him deal with the Philly Shell.
05:37 It's harder to deal with the Philly Shell
05:38 when you have the shorter arms,
05:41 but that jab from Francis is finding a home.
05:43 - It's so funny.
05:44 The right hand is available for Francis.
05:46 I don't even think he sees it
05:48 because Polanco, he's looking for the left hook.
05:52 He's in the Philly Shell,
05:53 but he's looking for the left hook.
05:54 He's arm punching,
05:55 but his head is directly on the center line,
05:57 available for the right hand.
05:59 - Not everybody can pull off the Philly Shell.
06:02 - No.
06:03 - It's great if you know how to do it,
06:05 but not everybody can be Floyd or Hopkins.
06:08 There's that one, two, three combination.
06:10 - And he got him with the right hand.
06:12 - Yeah. - Yeah.
06:13 (speaking in foreign language)
06:17 - It didn't stick.
06:19 There's not enough variation in Francis' offense right now.
06:22 He shoot the jab, he's having success with it,
06:24 but there's no follow-up punches.
06:26 If the jab is landing,
06:27 you gotta follow up with something.
06:29 And you have Polanco who's starting to read it.
06:32 - Francis did land a nice right hand there,
06:36 but it's few and far between.
06:37 It's just a jab battle from both fighters so far.
06:40 That's a nice check left hook from Francis
06:43 who switched it up there as Polanco tried to commit.
06:45 - Again, that's what it's all about.
06:47 It's about changing your offense up,
06:49 giving your opponent something different to look at
06:51 instead of the same sequences over and over and over
06:54 'cause he will begin to read your patterns.
06:57 And he'll pick 'em up and he'll set traps for you,
06:59 especially a good, talented counter puncher like Polanco.
07:03 - Jab to the body from Francis.
07:07 Polanco gives him a little ooh,
07:09 like I got something for you too.
07:11 - Watch your head.
07:14 - There's that stick from Polanco as well.
07:17 That is a one battle that Francis
07:19 cannot afford to lose against Polanco.
07:21 - No, not at all.
07:22 Keep the counter puncher off balance.
07:25 Keep him having to reset every time you hit him with the jab
07:27 on the arm, shoulder, chest, wherever.
07:30 - That's exactly what he did.
07:32 You said hit him anywhere
07:34 and Francis hit Polanco on the arms and on the chest.
07:37 Let's listen in to Hector Bermudez with Polanco.
07:40 You good?
07:44 Give me that bucket.
07:46 Take a deep breath.
07:50 You gotta be off the line.
07:55 He's trying to control you with the jab.
08:00 He's just trying to control you using that jab.
08:05 Hey, give me some water.
08:07 All right.
08:08 You good?
08:13 Yeah.
08:14 Breathe.
08:15 He just throws the same thing.
08:22 He's not changing at all.
08:24 You gotta go upstairs and downstairs.
08:28 Switch it up.
08:29 - Robert Hoyle said,
08:34 "Guys, the bell hasn't sounded just quite yet."
08:36 It has now.
08:37 Round three of a scheduled eight round fight.
08:40 Polanco was breathing deep in that corner.
08:42 - But his mouth is not open.
08:46 His mouth is not open now.
08:48 Doesn't look like he's gasping for air.
08:49 He's patient.
08:50 He's calm inside the ring.
08:51 Even when there's a storm,
08:55 you know, you gotta remain calm.
08:56 There's no reason to panic.
09:02 - Polanco parrying the jab with that right hand.
09:04 Even though there's a long left hook
09:09 that Francis is able to keep off of him with the right hand,
09:13 it's not a lot of work from either guy.
09:17 And Polanco really cannot afford to be this inactive
09:21 in the rounds.
09:21 I mean, it's already been two minutes.
09:23 I mean, it's been 50 seconds of this round
09:25 and he's thrown three punches.
09:27 - Yeah, that's his style,
09:29 but that's what he's trying to set up.
09:31 It's the left hook, the lead left hook.
09:33 He's coming around, he's sneaking.
09:35 He landed a few jabs, but now he's changing up the shot.
09:38 Trying to confuse Francis.
09:43 - Nice body work from Francis.
09:49 - I mean, this is easy work to read.
09:52 It's easy work to read both guys.
09:54 You know, you have Polanco who's sitting in front.
09:56 He's in some sort of Philly shell.
09:58 He's looking for the left hook right now,
10:00 available for the right hand in my opinion.
10:02 And you know, he doesn't have a whole lot of offense,
10:05 like you said.
10:06 You know, if you don't commit,
10:09 or if you do commit, you let your hands go,
10:12 he's not gonna come back with anything until you stop.
10:15 - Polanco told us, look, I'm not a moving amateur power,
10:22 but he needs to show it.
10:24 - There you go.
10:25 (punching)
10:28 - Come on, you gotta step up now, Ceez, come on.
10:32 You feeling him, let's go.
10:33 Step up, Ceez, yeah.
10:35 - Ah.
10:35 - One minute to go.
10:37 Jack with him.
10:40 Yeah, jack with him.
10:41 (punching)
10:44 - See, Polanco's the type of fighter that needs,
10:46 he needs offense to get his own offense.
10:48 He needs to learn how to create his own offense.
10:53 Create his own offense with feints.
10:55 Subtle movements left and right,
10:57 using the jab, level changing.
10:59 Just being more creative with his offense
11:01 instead of just standing in that posture right there.
11:03 Too easy to read.
11:06 And he sits in front.
11:09 But too long sometimes.
11:13 And that's why you're seeing Francis
11:15 collect some offense as often as he is now.
11:20 - You already saw one upset in terms of the draw
11:22 that we saw between Wilby Langton
11:25 and Dante Benjamin Jr.
11:26 So, Polanco's playing with fire here
11:29 as round three comes to a close,
11:31 allowing Francis to out jab him in this fight.
11:35 Okay, but we said this is all about judges' view.
11:39 So, let's take a look at what the judges see.
11:43 But first, it starts how you saw it at home.
11:45 This body shot from Francis is gonna connect.
11:52 That's what you see.
11:54 But now, what did the judge on the left see?
11:57 You see the ropes there, somewhat blocking,
12:01 and that's a Polanco body shot.
12:03 The ref walked through there.
12:05 And now, this is the far side judge,
12:08 and it's a very clear shot,
12:10 and it landed right to the solar plexus.
12:14 And now, we see the final judge's view on the right,
12:18 and you can once again see how it jabs.
12:21 It was parallel, and they could see it clearly.
12:23 And this is the replay that you see
12:26 the shot being effective to the solar plexus.
12:30 And this is what it looks like
12:31 from everyone's different angle.
12:34 The referee is right in the way of the far side judge
12:37 when the punch comes.
12:38 - Yep, and that affects judging.
12:41 You have to understand that.
12:43 The angles at which they see the punches.
12:45 I've been in arenas, I've sitting at the top,
12:47 I've sitting at the middle,
12:48 I've sitting a few feet away from the ring,
12:51 and every angle, you see something a little different.
12:55 - Well, we need to see something different
12:58 from Rojan Polanco here, and from Cesar Francis,
13:01 although Francis behind the jab has been able to control,
13:04 I think, that third round after two very close rounds,
13:07 and Polanco's still not coming out of that shell.
13:10 - Look, any one of these guys who wants to take charge,
13:14 or says to themself, "You know what?
13:15 "I'm gonna take charge, I'm gonna take over this fight,"
13:17 will put this fight in the bag.
13:19 They'll put rounds in the bag.
13:20 They just gotta get more active with their offense.
13:25 - And especially if you're Polanco,
13:26 and you watched Cesar Francis' first loss,
13:29 his last fight against Jesus Sarracho,
13:31 he didn't deal with aggressiveness early on in the fight well,
13:35 and he came on strong late,
13:38 but that's not the case for Polanco.
13:40 He's never pressured Francis in this fight.
13:42 - Not at all.
13:43 And yes, you can box a taller fighter from the outside,
13:47 I get that, you can,
13:49 moving left and right and sliding in behind their offense,
13:52 but you can also beat a taller fighter in the inside,
13:55 and going down to that body and chopping them down.
13:59 - The leaping right from Polanco,
14:01 trying to start to engage here on Francis,
14:04 who has a pretty tight guard.
14:06 For a guy with long arms, he protects his body well,
14:09 although he gets caught with a stab jab there, and the chin.
14:15 Left hook, that one shook Francis,
14:17 and let's see if Polanco sees the damage he did
14:20 and follows it up.
14:21 - He never saw it coming at all.
14:23 At all.
14:26 Never saw it coming.
14:27 Looked like a jab to him.
14:28 - Turned into a left hook, and finally the right hand.
14:33 - That same shot, that's an interesting lead hook.
14:38 He literally finds the crease,
14:39 he turns his body in a way to where he's able
14:43 to whip that shot around.
14:45 - Oh, there it is again.
14:46 - My goodness, that's an interesting way
14:49 of throwing a punch.
14:50 Just throwing it from a different angle.
14:52 - And that left hand is finding a home here
14:56 in the fourth round of the scheduled eight rounder,
14:58 and Polanco finally lets his hands go,
15:00 and you see what he's capable of,
15:02 and Francis now having to rethink his approach.
15:06 Because a jab to him is not gonna be enough
15:11 to keep Polanco off the hook,
15:12 after what we've seen in this fourth round.
15:14 - And finally, some offense landed for both guys.
15:17 They're going back for him, and like I told you,
15:19 whoever steps on the gas will start letting their hands go.
15:22 They're gonna dictate the pace, dictate this fight.
15:25 And you see in Polanco, that's what he's doing.
15:28 - 10 seconds.
15:30 - He's turned it up.
15:32 He hurt him with that shot.
15:33 - Oh, he is hurt, and he's down.
15:35 What a way to finish this for Rohan Polanco.
15:38 - Five, six, seven, eight.
15:42 - Come to me, come to me.
15:43 You wanna continue?
15:44 Okay.
15:46 Let's go, let's go.
15:46 - We talked about Francis not being able
15:52 to deal with pressure, and what did Polanco do
15:54 in this fourth round?
15:55 Turn it up.
15:56 - He finally pressured.
15:57 Yeah, finally started to let his hands go.
15:59 You know, Polanco took his time.
16:01 He allowed him to weather, he weathered the storm early.
16:04 He allowed him to exert himself,
16:06 and then he came on at the right time,
16:09 adjusted, started putting pressure on,
16:10 and that looping right hand,
16:12 that's a shot that the taller fighters don't like,
16:14 the looping right hand,
16:16 because taller fighters' instinct,
16:17 especially on the inside, is to pull up tall,
16:20 to get away from something.
16:22 That's their instinct, it's natural.
16:23 But he squared up here, you see Francis squared up here,
16:27 took the left hook right there,
16:28 and the right hand on the side of the head,
16:30 but there was a shot before this one that buzzed him,
16:33 and I believe it was a right hand.
16:35 Left hook on the temple, right cross,
16:39 and you see the legs go out of Francis.
16:42 - You're right, there was a shot before that
16:45 that kind of froze him up,
16:47 and that's why Polanco was able to land that left hook,
16:49 that really hurt him, and then that overhand right
16:51 that finished putting him down,
16:53 and that was the difference between Murata
16:55 and what we saw here.
16:56 Murata did not continue to follow him,
16:59 and Polanco, as soon as he saw that opening,
17:02 went right after him.
17:03 - Yes, absolutely.
17:04 And you know, sometimes when you hit a guy,
17:07 you don't even think it was that hard,
17:10 and you see the effect.
17:13 You know, when you throw it hard and it has no effect,
17:16 you think it's gonna have an effect, but it doesn't.
17:21 So Murata, when he landed that shot,
17:23 he didn't put everything into it,
17:24 it was just perfectly placed in time,
17:27 and he wasn't aware that he hurt his opponent
17:30 until he saw him do the stanky leg.
17:32 - Nice body shot with a right from Polanco,
17:34 and starting to find a rhythm here against Cesar Francis,
17:38 who runs a foundation in his own name,
17:42 Rain Man Sports and Fitness.
17:43 He has a contract with New York schools
17:45 where he goes and mentors and trains young men and women
17:48 in after-school programs in New York City.
17:50 So he's gonna have to go to school right now
17:53 and figure something out against Polanco,
17:55 who's coming on here in the fifth round
17:57 and drops him for the second time.
18:00 - Four, five, six, seven, eight.
18:05 Come to me, come to me.
18:06 You wanna continue?
18:08 You wanna continue?
18:09 You wanna continue?
18:10 That's it.
18:11 - He's looking at his corner
18:12 instead of looking at the referee.
18:13 That's a horrible mistake,
18:15 and it's partially the fighter and partially the corner.
18:18 - But he can't understand.
18:19 I think he speaks Espanol.
18:20 I don't think he speaks English,
18:23 and I think that was a real, the language barrier there.
18:26 - I asked him, he's paying attention to his corner.
18:28 He's okay.
18:29 - But in all due respect, he has enough experience
18:31 to know that he needs to look at the referee,
18:35 let him know that he's okay,
18:37 so that way the fight continues.
18:39 - Thank you, brother.
18:40 - He does speak English, and you just can,
18:42 we saw it with Israel Marquez and Rafael Marquez
18:46 when he actually was a first loss
18:49 in the career of Rafael Marquez.
18:51 He got dropped, and instead of getting up,
18:53 he looked over at Nacho Berristein,
18:55 and the count went to 10 just like we saw right here,
18:59 and the referee decided, "Hey, man,
19:00 "you gotta pay attention to me
19:02 "and not be looking over at the corner."
19:04 - Right.
19:05 Interesting enough, you know, it's important
19:09 for young fighters and just fighters in general
19:12 to understand what they need to do
19:15 when they get knocked down.
19:16 It's gonna happen.
19:18 It's bound to happen,
19:19 and how you react is extremely important.
19:22 You know, it can cause you this fight.
19:25 - You know, he could've been okay,
19:26 but let's take out the sequence right here.
19:27 You see Polanco following him out,
19:31 clipping him on the way down with a right hand,
19:34 but he looks okay here.
19:36 Good right hand, chopping right hand on the chin.
19:39 Another right hand, as you can see,
19:40 Francis trying to get away, doing his best.
19:43 Nice left hook down to the chest.
19:45 He goes down, and then he immediately looks at his corner.
19:53 And right here, he's looking for advice.
19:55 That's why he's looking at his corner.
19:56 He's looking at his corner for advice.
19:58 Should I get up?
19:59 Should I continue?
20:00 What should I do?
20:01 - And there you see how referee Robert Hoyle
20:07 is talking to him.
20:08 He says, "You gotta look at me."
20:09 He looks over at his corner,
20:11 and even then, he's not really arguing.
20:13 He's just kinda saying, "Look, I was looking at my corner,"
20:15 but those are fundamental mistakes
20:17 that you cannot afford to make at the professional level.
20:20 - I've never been into a fighter meeting yet
20:23 to where I hear a fighter say,
20:25 "Oh yeah, we worked on being like that.
20:27 "I know how to respond."
20:29 Because in these moments, when you're out of sorts,
20:33 you result back to your training.
20:35 That's what it is.
20:37 It's just like the military.
20:38 They drill it so much that as soon as you hear the gunfire,
20:42 you know what to do.
20:43 You get down.
20:44 You know how to react to certain situations,
20:47 and the same thing has to go inside of this.
20:49 This is war, truly war,
20:52 and when you end up in situations
20:54 and you get knocked down like this,
20:55 you gotta know how to respond.
20:57 - And the corner maybe needs to say,
20:58 "Hey, look at the referee.
21:00 "Don't look at me."
21:01 And I'm looking at Mark Chanuk, and he's ready.
21:03 (bell ringing)
21:04 - Ladies and gentlemen, here inside the Pearl Concert Theater
21:07 at the Palms Hotel Resort Casino in Las Vegas,
21:10 this bout comes to a conclusion at one minute, five seconds
21:13 of round number five for your winner by technical knockout,
21:18 Rohan Rayo Polanco!
21:23 - So, El Rayo, the lightning, wins by knockout,
21:29 earning his 10th professional win.
21:30 60% of those come by knockout.