By Boxing Bob Newman at ringside
There was definitely bad blood between super featherweights Gabriel Flores, Jr. of Stockton and Mexicali’s Luis Alberto Lopez during the press conference and weigh-ins, where Flores, Jr. formed his fingers into the shape of a pistol and pointed it gang-style to Lopez’ face. That fuel carried over into the ring tonight at the AVA Amphitheater at Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona.
The shorter Lopez surprised Flores, Jr. right off the bat with a left jab to the body and hard overhand right to the jaw of Flores, Jr. Lopez continued to press the action in the second, frustrating Gabe and catching his foe with sneak rights. Lopez used his lack of height to his advantage by ducking low under many of Flores, Jr’s overhand shots. In the fourth, Lopez kept the pressure on, while Fores, Jr. tried to box and move, but Lopez wasn’t dissuaded, landed a hard left to the jaw of Flores, Jr. for his troubles. A frustrated Flores, Jr. would wave Lopez in, as fighters often do when they’re running out of ideas, hoping to catch their careless foe, running into a punch, but Lopez didn’t fall for it. Lopez’ confidence grew as the rounds progressed.
Flores, Jr. alternated between trying to be a puncher, which he isn’t, and boxing which was ineffective against the relentless, calculating Lopez. A series of right hand bombs caught Flores, Jr. flush with seconds to go in the ninth, staggering him badly, but he survived.
In the tenth, it was more of the same, Lopez looking for the finisher, while not quite finding it, punishing Flores, Jr. to the brink of of a stoppage. In the end, Lopez took it running away by scores of 98-92 and 100-90 x 2!
“I really was expecting the fight to be stopped,” said Lopez. “I was looking at the referee or even at his dad. I was looking at him, and he didn’t want to keep going, but I couldn’t stop fighting. I just kept going, and they didn’t stop the fight.
“When I fought Vences, I had a broken hand, and I wasn’t 100 percent. I was 100 percent tonight.”
Flores stated, “I give a lot of respect to this man. He’s a 126-pounder, and he fought me at 130. I was talking all that sh*t and I meant it. And I knew what I was saying was true. I just couldn’t pull it off tonight. This man should be fighting for a world title if he wants to fight for one at 126 because he was fighting at 130 and he’s a true 126-pounder. He fuc*ing embarrassed me, and for me, he was fuc*ing my body up. But I wasn’t hurt. I give it up to him.
“For me, this ain’t the end.”
Farking disgrace, Flores took far too many clean punches and had no chance. Hope he’s ok, judging by post fight who knows
Maybe Oscar was asleep and someone slipped in a sepositry?
Flores last couple fights I had the feeling he was getting to comfortable and thought too much of himself. Hard wake up call on this one
Christian, you nailed it.
Lopez is a sleeper. He’s an excellent fighter. Him vs Navarrete at 126 would be madness.
this is what happens to young fighters who read there headlines telling them how good they are when really they are full of c–p this kid fought like a bum no future
It’s always nice to see a little upset.
I would like to see Luis Alberto Lopez fight Maxi Hughes. That would be great.
With Top Rank ESPN and the announcers on his side surprised they didn’t find a way to give Flores the Fight
Flores was not much of a puncher and was way too slow against the onrushing Lopez. Lopez was relentless and didn’t let anything deter him from punishing Flores. Yes, Flores took a really bad beating and the fight should have been stopped at the end of the 8th round.
I sure hope Flores recovers and bounces back from this crushing defeat. I never was really high on him since he lacks the punching power to discourage top fighters and is not skilled or fast enough to compete against the top fighters. He’s got the backstory and hype going for him but there’s a lot of tough competition in the 130 lb weight class.
This was an unexpected loss but showed that Flores has a long way to go before he can be considered as a legitimate contender for a title. My assessment is he doesn’t really have the tools to get there.