By Sean Jones: Lightweight prospect Gabriel Flores Jr will be swinging into the main event slot against his opponent Josec Ruiz after the cancellation of the Jose Pedraza vs. Mikkel LesPierre 140-pound contest. That fight was canceled because of LesPierre’s manager Jose Taveras testing positive for the coronavirus.
Tonight’s Flores Jr vs. Ruiz card will be televised on ESPN and ESPN Deportes at 8:00 p.m. from The Bubble at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Per the rules, they couldn’t have LesPierre fight Pedraza, given that he’d been in contact with a team member that tested positive for the virus.
It’s not much of a loss having the Pedraza-LesPierre fight canceled, as it wasn’t nearly as attractive on paper as the match between the unbeaten 20-year-old Flores Jr (17-0, 6 KOs) and Ruiz (21-2-3, 14 KOs).
Flores Jr vs. Ruiz an exciting fight
At least with this fight, we’ll get to see some great two-way action. Flores isn’t much of a puncher, so he’s going to need to use his boxing skills to beat the 25-year-old Ruiz.
It’s hard to say how far Flores Jr will go in the sport. Although Top Rank views him as a future star, he’s not shown the same talent as guys his same age in 21-year-old Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez.
Flores is trailing all three of those guys with development, and it’s challenging to protect how far he’ll go. Flores Jr isn’t the same type of blue-chip prospect as those fighters were when they turned pro. He’s a good fighter, but he’s a rung below were those fighters were when they turned pro.
What’s clear is the 5’9″ Flores Jr won’t be fighting at 135 for too much longer, as he’s still growing and will likely fill out and wind up as a 147 or 154-pounder. It’s imperative that Flores Jr to develop power along the way because he’s not going to be successful for long without much pop in his punches.
It’s not a good sign that Flores Jr has a KO percentage of 35.29 at this early stage of his career, with him still facing lower-level fodder types of opponents. With the opposition that Top Rank is feeding Flores Jr, he SHOULD be knocking out everybody he’s meeting, but he’s not, and that’s a red flag.
If Flores Jr can’t knock out the 2nd and 3rd tier opposition that he’s been feasting on, then it means he’s going to have to go the distance most of his career to win his fights. That’s going to be tough for him to do against the big hitters at 135, 140, 147 and 154.
Flores’ last six opponents:
- Matt Conway (17-2, 7 KOs)
- Aelio Mesquita (19-5, 7 KOs)
- Miguel Angel Perez Aispuro (12-0-2, 8 KOs)
- Salvador Briseno (17-5, 11 KOs)
- Eduardo Pereira Dos Reis (24-7, 9 KOs)
- Alejandro Torres Rynn (6-3, 3 KOs)
I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of any of these fighters, and, interestingly, Fores Jr was only able to knock out one of them. Top Rank might need to temper some of their enthusiasm about Flores’ future potential with a good dose of reality.
It’s understandable why Top Rank is matching Flores against lesser opposition at his age, but it’s unclear whether he’ll advance facing these type of fighters. Flores Jr would have been better off staying in the amateur system where he could continually meet the best fighters from all around the world before turning pro.
Prediction: Flores defeats Ruiz by decision
There’s little chance that Flores will knockout Ruiz because his opponent has got a good chin, and he’s been around the block a few times. Ruiz has a recent knockout win over Daulis Prescott, and that’s a guy that is considerably better than the opposition that Flores has been facing.
At the level that Flores is fighting at, he should be destroying everyone he faces if the guy was the real McCoy, and the fact that he’s not is a bad sign.
“I am devastated. This was my opportunity to showcase my talent to the world, but everything happens for a reason. This is just another roadblock in my story,” said LesPierre.
That’s a bummer that LesPierre and Pedraza won’t be fighting, but it’s no real loss because it wasn’t a great match-up. Pedraza is well above the level that the 35-year-old LesPierre competes at, and the fight would have ended predictably.
When Pedraza comes back, he needs to be matched against someone that can give him a test to show whether he belongs at 140. Pedraza should find out sooner rather than later about his fit at light-welterweight. If he loses again, then he should move back down to 135.
