Just this past June, Roc Nation promoted featherweight Daniel “Twitch” Franco met Jose Haro and fell to him in the eighth round. Unfortunately, the fight itself was only the very beginning of the battle for Californian. Tragedy struck in the aftermath and Twitch Franco’s promoter has not lifted a finger to help him.
At this point, I know this story is pretty well documented. I actually intentionally waited for it to blow over a bit to write this up. This is something that needs to stay alive.
The short version is this: After Franco was finished that night in Iowa, he complained of terrible headaches and was rushed to the hospital. His skull had to be opened to alleviate pressure on the brain and he was put into a medically induced coma for two weeks. That sort of traumatic brain injury is not something people always recover from, but thankfully Frank has slowly done so.
Granted, that recovery has taken four brain surgeries and six months of his life. He isn’t back to his old self and may never be the same, but Daniel can care for himself and function more or less independently. Short term memory remains an issue. Franco also has to wear a helmet because of the surgeries making his skull so fragile, but a fifth surgery set for early December should fix that.
This is America, however, and of course his medical bills are outrageous. The Franco family owes over a half a million in medical debt. His purse that night was $10,000. There are obviously so many ways that this is a messed up situation, but here is the one I want to focus on.
Roc Nation Sports has done nothing. Nothing. When Franco and his family asked the Jay-Z owned promotional company to use their vast influence simply to promote his GoFundMe page, they were ignored. When in response they posted a photo on social media calling out Roc Nation for this with a Daniel holding a sign, they were contacted and asked to take it down. Dino Duva, representing Roc Nation, told them someone would reach out in a few days. No one ever did.
Daniel “Twitch” Franco fought for them, but they won’t fight for him. They won’t even tweet out a link for him. Shame on you, Roc Nation Sports. All they asked for was a re-tweet.
Boxing is inherently dangerous. Everyone from those who cover it to myself, to those who participate, to those who love to watch– Everyone reconciles that fact in their own way. For me, I know these men are consenting adults and understand the risk. Everyone knows the stories of the men who fell in the ring for the last time. Yet, there is also an assumption of a fundamental goodness of people in general that helps keep that idea afloat. Certainly I would expect the promoter of a fighter to help out a family in any way they could. Maybe the money wouldn’t be there, but the damn social media share button always is.
Here is the link to Al Franco’s GoFundMe page for his son’s medical bills. Let us restore the faith in one another that scum like the men in charge of Roc Nation often try so hard to shake. Fighters who might ever consider signing with them, consider this story.
