After almost a year on the sidelines, cruiserweight Floyd Masson returned to the winner’s circle.
The cruiserweight hopeful earned a fourth-round stoppage of Joshua Francis. Masson forced referee Phil Austin to intervene at 1:25 of round four Saturday evening at the Mansfield Tavern in his adopted hometown of Brisbane, Australia.
The bout marked the first since last September for Masson (14-1, 8 knockouts). The New Zealand-born southpaw hadn’t fought since a sixth-round stoppage loss to Belgium slugger Yves Ngabu (23-2, 17 KOs), his lone career defeat.
No evidence of ring rust surfaced. Masson, 32, boxed conservatively and looked sharp in the opening round before increasingly opening the throttle. Francis pressed the action, but it was Masson who landed the cleaner, sharper shots.
Auckland’s Francis, 29, managed to get in some good work to both the body and head in the second heat. Masson weathered the storm, timed his opponent’s rushes with smart counters and landed hurtful body shots of his own. Late in the round, Masson appeared to have Francis hurt.
Masson came on strong in the third. He spun Francis off the ropes with his superior strength and blasted him to the body. The pressure from Masson continued and a left cross rocked Francis with a minute left to go in the round.
A right hook from Masson stunned Francis with 30 seconds left to go on the clock. A series of short shots to the body and head further damaged Francis, who tried in vain to fight back but came up short.
“It’s starting to get a little one-sided. You want to turn things around, you’ve got to be more competitive,” said the referee between rounds.
Francis understood the message, but he was simply outclassed.
Pressing ahead to start the fourth, Francis willed his way inside in the hope of breaking Masson’s tight defense. Masson kept taking half steps back to give himself room to punch and landed short, chopping shots at mid-range.
By the one-minute mark, referee Austin took a good, hard look at Francis, who was on the wrong end of an increasingly one-sided beating.
It didn’t last much longer.
Masson spun Francis around again, walking him on to another handful of shots, and referee Austin stepped in to stop the contest at the 1:25 mark.
“It was amazing getting back in the ring, doing what I love. I just enjoyed it in there,” said Masson. “I said it would be a war clinic and although I was getting hit with shots, I was making my shots count.
“Joshua is a tough guy and he came to fight hard. I know he put in a lot of work and sacrifice, flying over to Australia, getting in rounds sparring over here. That takes him away from his family, so all credit to Josh. I know how he feels, so my hat’s off to him.”
Masson, who was coming off elbow surgery to correct ongoing issues with bones in his arm, reaffirmed his ambition to win a world title.
“I wouldn’t be in this sport if I didn’t want to make it to the top,” he said. “That’s my only goal, and I’m going to get there.”
Australian-based boxing journalist Anthony Cocks has been covering the sport for over 20 years for various print and online publications. Follow him on X.
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