Was anyone else watching the coverage on sky last night of this epic fight....for me it pretty much had everything. It is definitely one of the contenders for British FOTY, and is up there with Johanneson v Gomez and other recent classics, and with it being an unification fight as well makes it even better. Here's my synopsis for those who missed out:

Round 1: Dean Francis comes out strong with a firm jab, keeping Oakey from getting on top of him, and marking under Oakey's right eye with a rare right, but he's already trying to do most of the work with his left, jabbing, and throwing some of his short left hooks, and early doors, he's looking strong and landing well. Oakey comes forward constantly, but isn't getting much luck.

Round 2-5: Oakey takes control after the first minute of the second round, pushing forward and throwing at a rate that Francis just can't match. Nasty cut opened up on the side of Francis' left eye, and the bridge of his nose. The side of the eye cut is spurting blood from the second onwards, and Francis, as the rounds progress seems to be fading as Oakey continues to pummel him. By the fifth, the cut seems to have stabilised, but Francis looks exhausted, his mouth wide open, and no force left in his jab. At this point, I thought Oakey had it. Francis seemed all but spent, and I was expecting perhaps a one-round rush before Francis gave it up.

Round 6-8: At some point, either in Francis' head or his corner, someone told him that there's no point holding anything else back, and that he has to start throwing his right, otherwise he'd be stopped. And what a turnaround it is. Not only does he start finding rights straight down the middle, changing the style throws Oakey off his game, letting more of Francis' lefts through, and Oakey is missing much more, but still manages to rip open a big gash under Francis' right eye.

Round 9: The big one for Francis, he opens up well, following on from the pattern of the past few rounds. Around a minute in Francis puts a jab then a right straight down the middle, then arcs in a superb left hook, and although Oakey simultaneously lands a left of his own, Francis' is a peach, and Oakey is floored spectacularly. Oakey takes the full 8-count to compose himself, and gets up, but another couple of flurries from Francis sees him reeling on the ropes, before the ref rightly steps in to stop it.

Great fight, stunning comeback from a guy who was down and out, and Francis shows he still can use that right shoulder when he needs it, even after the three operations!