{"id":7725,"date":"2020-01-14T10:31:49","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T10:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blnebeuk.serveur04.com\/blog\/?p=7725"},"modified":"2020-01-15T12:02:46","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T12:02:46","slug":"everything-you-need-to-know-about-bkb-fighter-rico-franco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.netbet.co.uk\/blog\/2020\/01\/14\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-bkb-fighter-rico-franco\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything You Need to Know About BKB Fighter Rico Franco"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

\"Rico<\/p>\n

Ever since Ricardo Franco burst onto the pro bare-knuckle boxing scene in 2017, he\u2019s been making waves within the BKB<\/a> community. The fighter came from humble beginnings in Lincolnshire and has fought across three continents, winning the title for super middleweight champion at the World Championships in London last November.<\/p>\n

With less than two years of training behind him, Franco beat BKB legends Connor Tierney, James Connelly and Jimmy Sweeney, dethroning the latter to win the world title\u2026 so who is this fresh face on the bare-knuckle boxing scene?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know about Rico Franco, including a summary of his most important fights and what\u2019s in store for the boxer in 2020.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Career Beginnings<\/h2>\n

\"Rico<\/p>\n

For many people who are interested in the BKB scene, it might seem like Rico \u2018Bon Bon\u2019 Franco came out of nowhere \u2013 and in some ways, he did. Although he has several years of martial arts experience under his belt, fighting mixed martial arts (MMA) in the US, Thailand, Russia and Italy, he only relatively recently turned his attention to bare-knuckle boxing.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in North Lincolnshire, Franco\u2019s career began at 18, when, as an amateur, he impressed numerous scouts who came to see him fight. In 2016, he turned pro and travelled the world fighting MMA.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Journey to BKB<\/h2>\n

\"Rico<\/p>\n

Franco was 27 years old when he was scouted for bare-knuckle boxing, an avenue he hadn\u2019t previously considered. Initially, the idea didn\u2019t particularly appeal to him as he had dedicated his life to MMA, but once he started training in 2018, he began to get noticed for his BKB skills.<\/p>\n

It was in this same year that he fought and won against renowned boxer James Connelly, bringing home \u00a310,000 in prize money.<\/p>\n

After just 18 months of training, he embarked on the fight that would catapult his career to new heights: the BKB World Championships, where he won \u00a0an incredible fight against boxing legend Jimmy Sweeney.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Franco vs Sweeney<\/h2>\n

\"Rico<\/p>\n

This epic fight took place in November 2019, in London\u2019s O2 Arena: Jimmy Sweeney had been a BKB legend in his own right, and by comparison Franco was a newcomer with much less experience. In the sixth round, Franco won against Sweeney with a technical knockout and earned the crown as super middleweight champion.<\/p>\n

With an impressive set of accolades behind him, at 27 Franco is in his prime and 2020 is set to be a massive year for the Northerner. With the LFA 80, UFC and the ONE Championship lined up in January alone, it\u2019s going to be an exciting year to see how this new BKB champion will continue to surprise us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find all the latest BKB odds<\/a>, news and more on your favourite fighters and athletes in one place with NetBet Sport<\/a>. Sign up today to enjoy the best betting platform for all major sports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since Ricardo Franco burst onto the pro bare-knuckle boxing scene in 2017, he\u2019s been making waves within the BKB community. The fighter came from humble beginnings in Lincolnshire and has fought across three continents, winning the title for super middleweight champion at the World Championships in London last November. With less than two years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[1627,1941,207,1942,381,1940],"class_list":["post-7725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ufc-mma-boxing","tag-bare-knuckle-boxing","tag-bkb","tag-boxing","tag-franco","tag-mma","tag-rico-franco"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEverything You Need to Know About BKB Fighter Rico Franco - NetBet UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rico Franco is one of the best bare-knuckle boxers on the scene right now - here's everything you need to know about this incredible fighter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.netbet.co.uk\/blog\/2020\/01\/14\/everything-you-need-to-know-about-bkb-fighter-rico-franco\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Everything You Need to Know About BKB Fighter Rico Franco\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rico Franco is one of the best bare-knuckle boxers on the scene right now - 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