By Jim Dower: Unbeaten cruiserweight contender BJ Flores (24-0-1, 15 KO’s) continued with his painfully slow progress in moving up the ranks with a 4th round stoppage win over super middleweight journeyman Epifanio Mendoza (29-8-1, 25 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Coast Coliseum, in Biloxi, Mississippi, after Mendoza injured his left shoulder and couldn’t continue. Referee Gary Ritter stopped the bout at 1:19 of the 4th.
BJ Flores
Flores Decisions Herrera
By Manuel Perez: Unbeaten BJ Flores (23-0-1, 14 KOs) defeated Colombian knockout artist Jose Luis Herrera (16-6, 16 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision on the undercard of Roy Jones Jr. vs. Omar Sheika bout at the Civic Center, in Pensacola, Florida. The final judges’ scores were 98-92, 99-91 and 99-91. Due to Flores fighting mostly on the back foot as is his custom, the fight was quite dull to watch with little real action to speak of.
Bute Interview; Flores-Harrera, Latimore Waiting on Spinks – Boxing News
“I’m tired of this waiting, I’m a prize fighter not some dude working in a restaurant serving food” said Deandre “THE BULL” Latimore after a morning run in Las Vegas.
“Every day I’m in the gym here in Vegas and when we finally get in the ring I’m going to take out all my anger over this waiting out on Cory Spinks, he’s going to pay for these delays” said the St. Louis native.
Boxing News – Flores Stops Hicks; Edwards Defeats Bloy, More
Photo/Courtesy Mary Ann Owen -World ranked cruiserweight BJ Flores returned to action at the Plaza Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas this past Friday night stopping Las Vegas native Matt Hicks at 2:50 of the third round. Fighting for the first time since winning a unanimous decision over Darnell Wilson last February, the well conditioned Flores used his steady jab, relentless body shots and sharp three punch combinations to dominate the fight over the heavier Hicks who weighed in at 256.
Flores Decisions Wilson
By John Dower: Unbeaten cruiserweight contender BJ Flores (21-0-1, 13 KOs) won an unimpressive 12-round unanimous decision over Darnell Wilson (22-6-3, 19 KOs) in an International Boxing Federation title eliminator on Friday night at the Dover Downs Hotel and Casino, in Dover, Delaware. The 6’2″ Flores, 29, built up an early lead using his five inch height and reach advantage to jab the shorter Wilson from outside. However, Flores faded badly by round eight, spending the final four rounds running exclusively to try and avoid Wilson’s power shots. The crowd, naturally, booed the action hoping that it would spur Flores to want to fight more. It didn’t work, as he did little in the last four rounds of the fight. I have the fight scored a draw based on Flores’ lack of offensive in the 2nd half of the fight. However, the judges’ scored the fight 115-113, 116-112 and 118-110 for Flores.
In round one, Flores, a former 2001-2002 National amateur champion at 201 lbs and 1997 National Golden Gloves champion at 187 lbs, controlled the round using his long jab to keep the much shorter Wilson bottled up on the outside.