After a troubled youth that saw him spend several spells in prison,[1][2] Francis turned pro in 1993 at the late age of 28 with a five-round knockout of Graham Arnold.
However, he squandered a big opportunity in an eliminator, when far ahead on points after nine rounds, hard hitting Scott Welch came from behind to drop him three times and stop him in 10.
Later in 1995, he took a fight in Russia and was outpointed by local Nikolai Kulpin and, in London, lost a debatable decision by half a point to veteran Michael Murray.
The big win over Oyebola got Francis a February 1997 shot at Zeljko Mavrovic for his European title, on the champion's home turf of Austria.
His manager Kellie Maloney was unsuccessful in attempting to move Francis up in 1998, as he was outpointed in Germany by local icon Axel Schulz in a European title eliminator, and a second visit to German shores saw him decked three times and stopped in the second round by giant Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko.
In January, he defended his British and Commonwealth titles against the flamboyant, hard hitting and highly rated prospect Pelé Reid, who was 13–0 (13 knockouts) and favoured to beat Francis.
In 2001, Francis returned to complete his trilogy with Holden, outpointing him over 12 rounds, and setting up a July rematch with Danny Williams, who was now #1 in the UK, world rated, and held the British and Commonwealth titles.
In the summer of 2007, Francis announced that at Cage Rage 23: Unbelievable on 22 September 2007 he would be making his mixed martial arts debut against Gary Turner.
[4] In 2012, Francis starred in the stage play Ring Envy, a modern version of Shakespeare's Othello in London, his performance earning praise from the likes of Sylvia Syms.
[1] In June 2022, whilst working at a gig as security at Boxpark Wembley, Francis went viral for knocking out a man who was acting aggressively to numerous members of the public.