Who Is Daniel Twitch Franco? New Details On The Boxer Suing Jay Z And Roc Nation Over Injuries
Somebody's in trouble!
Getty Images He's a boxer that hoped he'd make it big by signing with Jay-Z. Instead, he's suing the rap mogul. For a brief period, Daniel Twitch Franco was enjoying a successful career under the Roc Nation umbrella. He had an undefeated record, and even went on to win five more fights after he got signed to Jay-Z’s company. So, what went wrong between the boxer and the rapper? Let’s look at what we know about this rising star who’s becoming known for all the wrong reasons. Who is Daniel Twitch Franco?
1. Daniel Twitch Franco claims the problems started when he got sick
According to HipHopDX, Daniel Twitch Franco was someone who had an undefeated 10-0-3 record before signing with Roc Nation. After he signed with Roc Nation, he went on to win five more bouts, including a well-publicized fight at the Desert Showdown. However, he now alleges that the problems with Roc Nation began after he told them he had the flu, and thus couldn’t train against Francisco Agustin Suarez. Roc Nation told him to go ahead with the fight regardless, and he not only lost the fight via TKO, but he also suffered a near-fatal brain injury.
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2. He went on to fight in two more fights when he wasn’t well and suffered more near-fatal injuries
According to documents obtained by The Blast, Daniel Twitch Franco was subsequently scheduled to participate in two more fights: May 12, 2017, and June 10, 2017. Franco said that even though he didn’t get medical clearance to participate in this fight, the executives at Roc Nation told him to go forward anyway. He claims that he suffered a “devastating brain hemorrhage” as a result of participating in the fight.
3. Jay-Z fired several Roc Nation executives when the lawsuit was filed.
Jay-Z — real name: Shawn Carter — gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “heads will roll” after Daniel Twitch Franco filed his lawsuit. According to The Guardian Liberty Voice, several upper-level executives at Roc Nation were fired or resigned their posts in a “leave or get fired” type of situation. “Those who have lost their job include Azim Rashid, senior vice president of promotions, Orlando McGhee, senior vice president of A&R, Gita Williams marketing executive, and Fairley McCaskill, senior director of publicity. In March 2019, Benny Pough, Roc Nation’s label president left his post after 18 months in the position,” reports the outlet. “The layoffs come after Jay-Z, and Roc Nation Sports were sued by Daniel Franco, a boxer who signed with the company in 2015 and blames the sports franchise for brain injuries he sustained after fighting three times within 79 days.”
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4. Daniel Twitch Franco is still suffering from devastating injuries to this day.
According to Deadspin, one of the main reasons why Daniel Twitch Franco is suing Roc Nation is because to this day, he still suffers from devastating side effects as a result of all the blows he’d taken during his time with Roc Nation. “Doctors removed a section of Franco’s skull and he spent two weeks in a coma. Now Franco is required to wear a protective helmet, and his speech is slow and slurred; a doctor reportedly told him he’d “have a very hard time” returning to school to complete his education, “due to memory deficiencies caused by the injury,” reports the outlet. In addition to Roc Nation, LiveNation and Jay-Z personally are also personally named in the lawsuit.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. Find her online at www.bernadettegiacomazzo.com and www.longlivetheuprising.com.