By Scott Gilfoid: #15 WBO B.J. Flores (28-1-1, 18 KO’s) is hoping to get a fight against Tony Bellew (21-2-1, 13 KO’s) in the near future, and he’s calling him out on twitter But oddly enough, Bellew isn’t taking the bait and showing interest in the same way that he’s shown interest recently in facing the recently knocked out Nathan Cleverly. It could be that Flores is a style nightmare for Bellew, and he doesn’t want to risk his ranking, #7 WBC, and a possible world title shot against a talented fighter like Flores.
“Tony Bellew, open your eyes and look at the ratings over the last 5 years,” Flores said on his twitter. “Top 15 of WBO now. We can make it an eliminator. Now what? I can make it VERY easy to meet. We offered in January when you were looking for an opponent. Spoke to matchmaker. I’m down anytime.”
Instead of taking the bait and going after what would clearly be a big jump up from his last opponent Valery Brudov, this was Bellew’s less than aggressive response to Flores: “I seem to be a marked man at this weight. I’m after guys who are gonna get me a world title fight. I’m being called in by guys I don’t know. BJ Flores, you never offered me anything. If we meet, we meet so be it. I fight. The people around me sport everything else. Good luck.”
Oh boy, I think I smell fear coming from Bellew. He seems to want no part of Flores, and all I can conclude is he might not feel he’s up to the job. I can certainly understand that, because Flores is very experienced and a very slippery type of fighter to face due to his boxing skills. He’s not someone that Bellew could just go out and overpower like he did against 37-year-old Brudov.
Bellew would actually have to think in the ring against Flores, because if he tried to go primitive against him, Flores would make him look like an unskilled journeyman. You don’t beat a talent like Flores by trying to overpower him with shots. Bellew would have to think in the ring, and I’m not sure that he could best a fighter like Flores. This is a fight that would definitely go to the scorecards, and it would be about who the better man is in each 3 minute round rather than a fight where Bellew could come out and bludgeon some old unranked stationary fighter dragged up from the light heavyweight division to make Bellew look good.
Flores has been out of the loop for a little while with him being out of action since late 2012, but it’s not as if he’s been letting himself go. I saw him recently on television and he looks like he’s fighting shape. There’s no spare tire around his midsection, and he looks good. He looks in better shape than Bellew, who was sporting a little jelly roll around the sides I noticed. Bellew moved up in weight from the 175lb division to the cruiserweight division in his last fight, but obviously not all the weight that Bellew put on was in the form of muscle.
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