BOXING NEWS 24

BJ Flores

Tony Bellew vs. BJ Flores on October 15

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By Scott Gilfoid: Tony “Bomber” Bellew will be making his first defense of his WBC World cruiserweight title on October 15 against non-contender BJ Flores at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. It looks like the World Boxing Council decided to let the 33-year-old Bellew take a voluntary defense against the 37-year-old Flores rather forcing him to fight his #1 WBC contender Mairis Briedis. That’s a good thing for Bellew, beause he very likely would have been steamrolled by Brieidis in lightning fashion. BJ Flores is currently ranked No.26 by the WBC. My guess is we’ll soon see Flores pushed up to at least the No.15 spot in the WBC’s rankings very, very soon. If not, it would be quite sad that Bellew is defending against a guy ranked No.26. But it’s a sad match-up no matter where the WBC moves Flores to in their rankings, because he looked horrible in losing to Beibut Shumenov two fights ago.

Bellew won the vacant WBC title last May in defending Illunga Makabu by a 3rd round knockout in Liverpool, England. After the fight, Bellew stood up like a prize-winning rooster, crowing about his win, saying that he’s the best cruiserweight in the world.

The words sounded nice, but unfortunately it didn’t make sense. I mean, for Bellew to be the best cruiserweight in the world, he would have to prove it against the arguably more talented fighters in the division like Denis Lebedev, Krzystof Glowacki, Oleksandr Usyk, Grigory Drozd, Marco Huck, Murat Gassiev and Brieidis. Those guys are much better fighters than Makabu.

Tony Bellew vs. BJ Flores possible for October 15

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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.

Kovalev-Mohammedi averages 1.014m viewers on HBO; Shumenov-Flores 422K on NBC

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kovalev44555By Dan Ambrose: Last Saturday’s fight between IBF/WBA/WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs) and Nadjib Mohammedi (37-4, 23 KOs) brought in an average of 1.014 million viewers with a peak of 1.028 million viewers on HBO Championship Boxing from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In contrast, the fight between former WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov and BJ Flores brought in an average of 241,000 viewers with a peak of 422,000 viewers on NBCSN, according to Dan Rafael. The co-feature bout between Jean Pascal and Yunieski Gonzalez on the Kovalev-Mohammedi card outperformed the Shumenov vs. Flores fight as well in averaging 883,000 viewers with a peak of 1.028 million viewers on HBO.

Shumenov defeats Flores

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Image: Shumenov defeats Flores(Photo credit: Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions) By Dan Ambrose: Beibut Shumenov (16-1, 10 KOs) schooled longtime veteran BJ Flores (30-2-1, 20 KOs) in defeating him by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night to win the vacant WBA interim cruiserweight title on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC from the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The final judges’ were 116-112, 116-112 and 116-112. Flores fought well in the middle rounds in putting pressure on Shumenov, who wasn’t throwing enough punches. However, Shumenov took control of the fight from 8th round, and cruised for the last four rounds in outworking Flores and making him look bad with his movement.

Flores 200.8, Shumenov 199.4 – Weights

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shumenov5By Dan Ambrose: 36-year-old BJ Flores (31-1-1, 20 KOs) came in over the cruiserweight limit at 200.8lbs during today’s weigh-in for his fight on Saturday night against former WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov (15-2, 10 KOs) at the Palms Casino and Resort, Pearl Theater, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Shumenov vs. Flores fight will be televised on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC Sports.

BJ Flores wants Tony Bellew fight

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bellew3By 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.”

Why didn’t Danny Green go after Huck, Lebedev or Cunningham instead of Flores?

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By Jim Slattengren: While I think Danny Green (30-3, 27 KO’s) is an excellent fighter, I’m not pleased to learn that he’s taking on BJ Flores (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) in his next fight on November 17th, in Sydney, Australia. That’s a step up for Green, no doubt. But that’s not a big enough step for me, especially after watching Green’s last fight against Paul Briggs.

Danny Green to fight BJ Flores on November 17th

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Image: Danny Green to fight BJ Flores on November 17thBy Dan Ambrose: IBO cruiserweight champion Danny Green (30-3, 27 KO”s) is finally going to be facing a live opponent in unbeaten American cruiserweight contender BJ Flores (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) on November 17th in Sydney, Australia. Green, 37, a one-time WBA light heavyweight champion, has taken on a number lesser and older fighters since making his comeback from two-year retirement in 2009.