By Scott Gilfoid: Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s considering the recently beaten 37-year-old unranked BJ Flores (32-2-1, 20 KOs) as his fighter WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew’s next opponent in October. This would be a voluntary defense for Bellew despite the fact that he’s supposed to be defending his title against his WBC mandatory challenger Mairis Briedis under the World Boxing Council’s own rules.
Briedis, 31, is still a possibility for Bellew, but Hearn is interested in matching Bellew against Flores, who was recently soundly beaten by interim WBA cruiserweight champion Beibut Shumenov last year by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision in July 2015. Flores isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies.
It’s unclear whether the WBC would sanction a fight between Bellew and Flores unless they hurry up and give Flores a top 15 ranking once the fight is made. The Bellew-Flores fight still isn’t official yet, but it seems like that’s the direction Hearn wants to go for Bellew. It’s a safe fight for Bellew compared to the dangerous alternatives against Brieidis and former WBC cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. I don’t think Bellew would have any chance of beating either of those guys because they’re simply too good for him in my view.
“We’re looking to go October 15 in Liverpool,” Heard said to skysports.com. “We’ve got a few options because the division is very difficult. You’ve got some real elite level fighters there. I think it will be a voluntary defence, with the likes of Wlodarczyk has been mentioned, BJ Flores has been calling Tony out – and I think that’s a fun fight. Flores has had a win since losing a tight one against Shumenov and there’s obviously the David Haye connection with Flores, because those guys are close as well.”
Well, I don’t see the Bellew vs. Flores match as a “fun fight,” as Hearn calls it. I see it as a mismatch between a paper champion and a non-ranked fighter that was recently beaten with ease by Shumenov. I mean, if the British fans are willing to pay to see Bellew fight this level of opposition rather than insisting he fight the top level guys, then more power to them. I wouldn’t want to see Bellew fight Flores. I want to see Bellew risk his hide fighting Briedis, Drozd, Huck or Usyk, but that’s me. I prefer to see chamnpions fight top contenders rather than guys that were recently beaten by Shumenov and are no longer ranked in the top 15.
I think it’s painfully obvious that Flores will be the guy that Hearn sticks in with Bellew, because he’s the only guy of the three that he would have a chance of beating. Flores looked gawd awful in losing to Shumenov last year. It was awful performance from Flores, but I’m not surprised.
Flores hasn’t done much with his career since losing to Danny Green six years ago in 2010. Flores does a lot of commentator work for Premier Boxing Champions, but his pro career has kind of stalled out. Eight years ago, Flores beat Darnell Wilson by a 12 round decision. It was thought then that Flores would eventually become a world champion, but he just wasn’t ever able to make the leap to the next level.
As flawed as Flores is as a fighter, he might actually beat Bellew. That shows you how vulnerable Bellew is. He’s not a top guy even though he’s technically a world champion in holding down the WBC belt.
Bellew beat Illunga Makabu by a 3rd round knockout last May to win the vacant WBC cruiserweight title in Liverpool, England. Bellew immediately started saying he’s the best fighter in the cruiserweight division. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he’s going to be trying to prove himself by taking on the real talents in the division like Grigory Drozd, Briedis, Marco Huck, Olesandr Usyk, Denis Lebedev, or Murat Gassiev.
I expect Bellew to beat BJ Flores, but that’s not saying much. We saw how easily Danny Green and Shumenov were able to beat him. Flores did win his last fight against some guy named Roberto Santos (12-4, 5 KOs) in winning a six round unanimous decision last May, but we’re talking about a low, low quality fighter, aren’t we? Santos has lost his last four fights, so it’s not as if Flores really rebounded from his loss to Shumenov.
I hate to say it but I see Bellew lasting as the WBC champion only as long as the WBC allows him to take voluntary defenses. Once Bellew has to fight his mandatory challenger Brieidis, I see him getting knocked out badly. The Latvian Briedis is the real deal, and I can’t see Bellew doing well at all against him.
It will be interesting to see if the WBC lets Bellew take a voluntary defense in his next fight rather than face Briedis, because he’s supposed to be facing that guy. When a fighter wins a vacant world title, they’re supposed to fight the No.1 guy in their next fight. Obviously, Hearn wants Bellew to be able to take a voluntary defense straightaway, but that’s not exactly fair to Briedis, who should be the one getting the fight.