Junior lightweight Dominique Francis shows shades of Brian Norman Jnr in the ring, and now he is mirroring him on boxing’s business side.

On Wednesday, Francis officially announced that he has signed with Fighters First Management.

Francis, 16-0 (10 KOs), last fought in October, knocking out Julio Carrera Lugo on a G-Squad Entertainment card. The win caught the attention of Fighters First President Jolene Mizzone, who draws parallels between Francis and Georgia’s well-traveled Norman.

“I don't like to compare fighters, and I'm not trying to compare him, but going in a guy's quote-unquote backyard, and beating him reminds me a lot of Brian Norman,” Mizzone told BoxingScene. “He has an ‘it’ factor. He's great at giving interviews, he's great at talking. He's great outside the ring, and he's great inside the ring.”

Francis, a 24-year-old trained by Derik Santos in Opa-Locka, Florida, recalls his early days in the sport that brought him to this moment.

“I started this at 10 years old. I used to catch the Tri-Rail from Opa Locka to Boca Raton,” Francis told BoxingScene. “Every single day, no matter what the weather is, what the conditions are, I made it happen.”

Within his first year of boxing as an amateur, Francis was ranked No. 1 in his region and No. 2 in the nation. He spoke of training beside Teofimo Lopez Jnr, Tevin Farmer, Shakur Stevenson and Charlie Sheehy.

“I see myself currently as the best in the world,” Francis said. “That's the type of person I am. I'm full of confidence.”

Francis also acknowledged the comparison to Norman.

“Brian Norman is actually like a friend of mine,” Francis said. “Every fighter has aspirations of being a world champion. So Brian Norman was able to accomplish that, and that's obviously something that we want to accomplish as well.”

Francis said Wednesday’s signing puts him a step closer to accomplishing that goal. He believes Fighters First will help him move into contention, after he previously blue-collared his fight career without a major promoter behind him.

“Listen to the name: Fighters First,” Francis said. “You don't have a lot of companies like this or management teams like this, who are really behind their fighters and care about their fighters and support their fighters.”

Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at .