He was an unbeaten boxer bankrolled by way of Jay-Z. After an injury sent him right into a coma, his new mission is helping opponents

Boxing has been plagued by empty guarantees made by using powerful individuals to young and hungry fighters attempting to find repute and glory.

There are numerous circumstances of monetary betrayal and, most troubling, an inconsistent attention to the safeguard of the fighters who enter the ring.

there is an implied acceptance of boxing's deadly risk — a part of the game, they are saying.

What the recreation has lacked is a signature voice to press for anything enhanced. If that pursuit appears a ways-fetched, agree with that Daniel Franco has lifted himself both from the canvas and the darkness of a coma to are trying.

The 25-12 months-old featherweight from Rancho Cucamonga changed into a young, unbeaten pro who had signed with Roc Nation sports, a then-fledgling boxing merchandising company bankrolled through rapper Jay-Z that also counted world champions Miguel Cotto and Andre Ward as shoppers.

This week, as Jay-Z's confessional album "4:44" was honored with eight Grammy nominations, including album of the year and listing of the yr, Franco sat at a 4-chair dinner desk internal his family unit's humble condo, wearing a glorified bicycle helmet to give protection to the part of his mind where a chunk of his skull is lacking.

He spoke while gently stroking the stapled line alongside the left facet of his head as he awaited a 3rd surgery on Friday to exchange the cranium cap that in the beginning was eliminated to cut back close-fatal mind swelling brought about through his eighth-round knockout loss to Jose Haro on June 10 in Iowa. The cranium cap turned into taken off once more following an infection that additionally well-nigh killed him.

It had been 172 days because a consultant from Roc Nation had contacted him.

"I think … like I've been left within the grime," Franco talked about. "They in no way valued me as a person. All i used to be turned into a product."

Franco's father, Al, become decreased to begging Roc Nation executives Michael Yormark and Dino Duva, asking whether the business — or Jay-Z or his spouse, Beyoncé — may use one in every of their powerful social media systems to promote Daniel's "GoFundMe" crusade, which has raised more than $60,000 to assist offset the household's clinical and commute expenses, with basically $200,000 in last bills.

No such advice was granted, and the younger Franco lately noticed that Roc Nation sports' fighter sturdy had diminished to best a handful of combatants. Franco has been deleted from its site.

requested what the company has finished to support Franco, Yormark, typical for dressing immaculately in clothier suits and sometimes dropping Jay-Z's name, said, "I don't have any comment."

"It's just a situation we, you recognize, we're no longer chuffed about … and that i'm not allowed to comment on. Our policy is we can't touch upon that discipline," Duva told The instances. "all and sundry cares about Daniel Franco and his scientific and physical condition."

That Franco is even alive is striking.

He suffered his first professional defeat March 23 in what changed into expected to be a tuneup against gentle-punching Christopher Martin in l. a.. as an alternative, Martin scored a third-circular technical knockout.

"[Daniel] had been sick with the flu, out of the gym for 3 weeks, however [Roc Nation] wanted to push ahead with the fight," noted Al Franco, who expert his son from age 8. "My experience is, you pull out of fights, you get shelved. Promoters don't like that. That's why they don't like trainers to be too near combatants. They need a fighter to combat.

"After that combat, i used to be sizzling. I told those guys I noticed this coming."

Seven weeks after the loss, Franco agreed to a Roc Nation matchmaker's advice to preserve busy by fighting in Mexico, defeating a winless opponent with a view to land the CBS sports network-televised main adventure in Iowa lower than a month later.

at the face-off, Haro whispered to Franco, "I hate this," the interaction being Franco's lone memory of his last combat week.

Plans to win with the aid of controlling the combat's tempo, tempo and range were undermined via a first-circular Haro punch that dazed Franco. in the sixth circular, Haro scored a knockdown. Haro's fateful knockdown punch to the head within the eighth changed into delivered according to Franco's lacking a hook.

"It appeared dramatic because [Daniel] became turning. He didn't trap himself taking place," his father spoke of. "once we tried to get him on the stool, he couldn't lift himself together with his appropriate leg. … Then he begun complaining a few headache, and his speech began slurring. I knew we mandatory to get him to the hospital. within the ambulance, he all started convulsing."

A boxing veteran, Al Franco had witnessed others trapped during this spiral. It's why he generally warned his combatants to continue to be in elite form, reminding them there are around nine boxing deaths a year.

Now, peering into his son's hospital room with emergency personnel swarming, his mind idea his son changed into subsequent on that list.

"i assumed he was going to die. … We have been moved into the chapel — never a superb issue — when the doctor came in to tell us Daniel had a brain bleed, and they were getting ready to go in," Al Franco spoke of. "That's variety of like … getting able to put the nail within the coffin."

while undergoing emergency brain surgery and a subsequent method, Daniel Franco become discovered to have suffered two skull fractures and a separate mind bleed that the surgeon pointed out likely occurred in fights earlier than the loss to Haro.

Al Franco noted a doctor told him that if a scan or MRI had been used to inspect his son's brain and skull earlier than the Iowa battle, the bleed and cracks would've been discovered, sparing Daniel from extra severe harm. however he in no way acquired a submit-fight scan after the California knockout.

One improvement from the Franco case may well be state athletic commissions increasing their use of MRI and CT scans on fighters following knockdowns and knockouts.

at the moment, in Nevada and California, a fighter is required to undergo skull or brain imaging best once every 5 years, unless a physician orders a special examination following a fight.

one among Daniel Franco's saving graces changed into that the apparent bleeding from the Haro bout became close the mind's floor, quickening the lifestyles-saving medication and assisting to speed up his healing from a coma that lasted almost two weeks amid fears of paralysis or a vegetative state.

"I thank God for my life on daily basis," he referred to.

Franco speaks slower than before and strikes cautiously, however he recalls career pursuits other than Iowa and has robust opinions on a lot of present topics, together with why more youthful super-featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko will defeat Roc Nation's older, smaller tremendous-bantamweight champion, Guillermo Rigondeaux, in Saturday's bout in manhattan.

"As repeatedly as I've considered this happen, he's the just one sitting right here — talking, running, in a position to do all that he's doing," Al Franco noted of his son.

What Daniel Franco wants now that his combating profession is over is to launch an advocacy neighborhood for boxers — in business, health and financial matters. while organized crew sports give their athletes such protections, boxers are left in a lurch, plenty like Franco is now.

His simplest recourse to Roc Nation sports' lack of communication after incomes $6,000 within the loss to Haro has been to put up on Instagram and Twitter a photo of him with the helmet on, conserving a sign reading, "I fought anytime you requested. I certainly not grew to become down an opponent. I sacrificed my lifestyles, my fitness, my future. i can't even get a call?"

One medical professional has advised Franco, who accomplished two years of community faculty, that he'll "have a really difficult time" making an attempt to conclude his schooling on account of memory deficiencies brought about through the damage. So starting a foundation to support fighters who get injured and are then overlooked via promoters is his new mission.

The trigger aims to crusade for stronger frequent defense suggestions, health coverage and retirement plans. Some federal lawmakers are telling the Francos they're attracted to pressing an agenda that has lengthy languished.

"I'm happy to speak for those boxers who bought hurt and might't talk. I want to make a transformation for this game," Franco pointed out. "anything complicated certainly not stopped me earlier than. I are looking to aid warring parties keep away from … all this."

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire