Francisco Fonseca: record, next fight and profile →
Last Thursday, the prodigy twins, Angel and Chavez Barrientes, were successful in their pro debuts, both scoring first round knockouts. The dynamic duo, who are only 17-years old, traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, to turn professional.
It was hard. It was tough. It was brutal. And at the end, both men ultimately walked away disappointed. Last Saturday night, Alex Dilmaghani and Francisco Fonseca had the crowd in attendance at London’s York Hall, and the viewers watching at home on Channel 5, utterly engrossed.
Alex Dilmaghani and Francisco Fonseca battled their way to a draw for the vacant IBO super-featherweight title after a fierce encounter fought at a relentless pace at the York Hall in East London. For the first seven rounds the two stood toe-to-toe, neither giving ground, but after Dilmaghani was cut by a clash of heads it was Fonseca, a two-time world title challenger from Nicaragua, who finished the stronger.
There is one word that sums up Alex Dilmaghani days in Mexico a lesson taught by some of the world’s best fighters after he swapped a sleepy seaside resort for a gym in a city where he couldn’t speak the language. “Hunger,” Dilmaghani said. “Mexico showed me what I needed to do to make it to the top in boxing.”
It would be a serious shortcoming to dismiss the courteous and articulate manner with which Alex Dilmaghani habitually carries himself in Civvy Street as any form of weakness. All civility ceases once the law graduate from the University of Southampton slips into the sweatshop and trains with demonic fervour to fulfil his fate of wearing a world super-featherweight crown. And woe betide any man foolish enough to risk compromising those ambitions.
Picture the scene: You're 19-1 and about to main event for the first time on Channel 5. Whilst warming up in the dressing room, a message reaches you just five minutes before call time that your opponent cannot compete and the fight is off! That's the scenario super-featherweight contender, Alex Dilmaghani found himself in when two-time world title challenger, Francisco Fonseca was withdrawn from their September main event through illness.
Hennessy Sports are delighted to announce that the salivating super-featherweight shootout between Alex Dilmaghani and Francisco Fonseca is back on! The high-grade contenders collide over 12 rounds for the Vacant International Boxing Organisation World Title belt at London’s hallowed York Hall, Bethnal Green, on Saturday 16th November, in a fascinating contrast of styles that matches Crayford’s classy Dilmaghani with the nuclear hitting Nicaraguan.
Alex Dilmaghani suffered massive disappointment on Saturday night. The Redhill man had been set to meet Nicaragua’s Francisco Fonseca at the Bolton Whites Hotel, exclusively live on Channel 5. Dilmaghani (19-1, 8 KOs) and the former world title challenger were scheduled for a 12-round contest for the vacant WBA International super-featherweight title.
TORONTO, ON—Two of Lee Baxter Promotions’ stars will take significant steps in their journey towards world titles on October 25 at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto. In the main event, super welterweight contender Stanyslav Skorokhod battles Races “El Faraon” Payano. Skorokhod returns to the site of his Canadian debut, where he knocked out Nestor Garcia back in 2017. Since then, he has gone 3-0 in his adopted “fighting home” of Toronto, and aside from a controversial decision loss to Aram Amirkhanyan in 2018, has been undefeated since 2015.
Classy super-featherweight Alex Dilmaghani aims to punch himself into the 130lb world rankings and line up a world title fight when he faces the dangerous Nicaraguan Francisco Fonseca at Mote Hall, Mote Park, Maidstone, on Saturday 28th September, live on terrestrial free-to-air Channel 5 in the UK.