Clottey Decisions Flores

Welterweight challenger Joshua Clottey (32-2, 19 KOs) defeated two-time title challenger Felix Flores (22-6, 16 KOs) by 10-round unanimous decision on Thursday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Clottey, 30, using mostly quick combinations, was simply too much for the slower, plodding Flores to contend with. However, made it interesting in the first half of the fight, often forcing Clottey to the ropes where Flores would then unleash hard body shots.

Clottey, never one to a good scrape, went a long with Flores’ game plan, trying to beat him at his own game. However, it was clearly not working, so following the sixth round in which Clottey received a tongue lashing in between rounds by his trainer, Clottey came out in the seventh round and focused entirely on boxing. It worked, as he easily won the remaining four rounds without any trouble. The final judges’ score were 97-93, 99-91, and 100-90.

Clottey landed 251 of 693 punches thrown compared to Flores’ 173 of 602. However, Clottey’s punches were very hard, leaving Flores’ face badly swollen by the end of the fight. Later, after the fight, Clottey called out Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Zab Judah, Kermit Cintron and Paul Williams, saying that he only wants to fight the best so that he can continue improving.