Tyson opponent has overcome dark past

Dean Juipe

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000 | 10 a.m.

At 28 years old Julius Francis was a habitual criminal and street thug, barely able to read and write.

Today, at the age of 36, it's as if he won the lottery.

Functionally literate after refining his reading and writing skills, Francis is the Englishman who will face Mike Tyson Jan. 29 in Great Britain. He turned his life around by forsaking his mischievous habits and concentrating on a professional boxing career that has led him to the limelight.

He's the definitive late bloomer.

"I went down a road that I thought was good for me at the time," he said Wednesday during a conference call from his training camp south of London. "But it landed me in hospitals and prisons. (But) through all the adversity in my life, I've pulled myself around to be where I am today."

Despite a lack of earlier worldwide recognition, Francis is on the threshold of greater glories. He's not expected to defeat Tyson, of course, but, if he does, his astonishing transformation will be complete.

"Tyson's there for me," he said of a bout that will be televised by the Showtime cable network. "He's basically going to be fighting for his life and that's the same way I'm approaching the fight.

"I'm going in there to win, no disrespect to him."

Francis is 21-7 with 11 knockouts and has won three straight since back-to-back losses to Axel Schulz and Vitali Klitschko in 1998. While Francis did earn the British Commonwealth heavyweight title, he hasn't always impressed and was also beaten by John Ruiz, Scott Welch, Zeljko Mavrovic and guys named Nikolaj Kulpin and Michael Murray.

It goes without saying that he's a substantial underdog for a bout that will attract a capacity crowd to the MEN Stadium in Manchester.

In preparation for the fight, Francis has moved out of the public eye and into a barracks at a suburban military base.

"The demands of the British public and media were so intense we had to get him away from it," said Francis' manager, Frank Maloney. "The most secure place we could find was a military base. He's under lock and key."

Francis agreed that the seclusion will do him good.

"It's nice to get all the attention, but there's no way I could be physically and mentally focused if I stayed in the gym I use in London," he said. "I'm here to lock myself away and focus."

His challenge is substantial, as Tyson is 46-3 with 40 knockouts in a storied career that has made him the sport's greatest draw.

"Mike Tyson is one of these fighters who has never been hidden from the press," Francis said. "There's not much about him that anybody doesn't know.

"He's rough, he's rugged and sometimes he can be a bit dirty. I know what he's about."

Francis said he thought Tyson looked "rusty" during a fight last January with Frans Botha, although he blamed Orlin Norris for not giving Tyson a fight when they met in October. Norris quit in that bout after the first round, blaming a late punch from Tyson for allegedly injuring his knee.

"Norris only went in there to get a payday and fall on the floor," Francis said. "I don't know how he can look himself in the mirror."

Given that remark, fans can expect Francis to provide Tyson -- who continues to train at the Golden Gloves Gym in Las Vegas -- with a fight.

"I've learned a lot and that's the kind of experience I bring to the table," Francis said. "I've always had a belief in myself."

Once a bodyguard for former world champion Nigel Benn, Francis has also served as a sparring partner for Lennox Lewis among others. Now he's the one in need of sparring partners and former light heavyweight contender Edgerton Marcus and heavyweight journeyman Darroll Wilson, plus three others, are filling that role.

Francis is 6-foot-2 and will weigh in the neighborhood of 240. That will give him three inches and approximately 20 pounds on the former world champion.

Getting a fight with Tyson had to be the last thing on Francis' mind as he initially turned pro in 1993.

"I was 18 when I first walked into a boxing gym," he said. "It seemed like a challenge to me but I didn't turn pro (for several years) because my confidence wasn't where it should have been."

Refining his reading and writing skills added to his personal confidence and perhaps carried over to boxing.

"My reading and writing was atrocious," he said. "I could read a little but I couldn't write any letters. But I used my time in prison to learn to read and write properly. Now I'm writing all the time."

He realizes his troubled background matches with Tyson's problematic past but says "if me and Tyson have similar backgrounds, that's basically where it ends. He's had his ups and downs and I've had mine. In my case, I see it as part of the learning process."

He said he doesn't anticipate any of Tyson's sordid tricks, but admits "boxing can be a nasty, dirty game. The rules have been broken a few times."

Francis has broken a few of his own, albeit out of the ring. But in exchange for reversing his life's direction he has been given quite a reward: He gets a $550,000 payday and a shot at history.

He gets to be Rocky.