Dean Temius Francis (23 January 1974 – 25 May 2018) was a British professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He held the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

title from 1997 to 1998; the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...

European super middleweight title in 1997; the Commonwealth

light heavyweight Light heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight. The light heavyweight class has ...

title from 2007 to 2008; and the British light heavyweight title in 2008. Following a debilitating shoulder injury in 1998, Francis broke off his career, returning in 2002 and continuing to box until 2014. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the bowel in January 2017, and fought a sixteen month battle, before his death from the disease on 25 May 2018. He was 44 years old. Tributes paid by boxing promoters

Barry Hearn Barry Maurice William Hearn (born 19 June 1948) is an English sports promoter who is founder and president of Matchroom Sport. Through Matchroom, Hearn is also involved in many sports including boxing, snooker, darts, pool, tenpin bowling, gol ...

and

Eddie Hearn Edward John Hearn (born 8 June 1979) is a British sports promoter and the chairman of Matchroom Sport and Professional Darts Corporation. Hearn has promoted many world champion boxers through Matchroom, including Anthony Joshua, Canelo Álvar ...

, as well as former world champions

Tony Bellew Anthony Lewis Bellew (born 30 November 1982) is an English former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017. At regional l ...

and

Anthony Crolla Anthony Crolla (born 16 November 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2019.. Retrieved 27 March 2017. He held the WBA lightweight title from 2015 to 2016. Professional career Early career Crolla made his prof ...

. He was nicknamed "Star".

References

External links

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Image - Dean Francis
1974 births 2018 deaths Cruiserweight boxers English male boxers Light-heavyweight boxers Sportspeople from Basingstoke Super-middleweight boxers Deaths from colorectal cancer in England 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-boxing-bio-stub