Flores-Pineda Report
WBO NABO Jr. Heavyweight champion BJ Flores (27-1-1, 16 KOs) scored a sixth round TKO over comebacking 40-year-old former welterweight title challenger Hugo Pineda (39-6-1, 28 KOs) on Saturday night with an enthusiastic hometown crowd at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield, Missouri. Flores dominated the entire bout with Pineda not able to connect on anything significant in the six plus rounds. Flores looked exceptionally sharp and did not give Pineda an easy target to hit and at times it looked as if Flores knew what Pineda was going to throw. Both fighters were tentative in the first, each carefully measuring the other and keeping at a safe distance, however, early in the 3rd Flores connected with a thunderous left hand to drop Pineda but he was able to continue. The Missouri native then began to work Pineda’s body and from this point forward, it seemed to take the starch out of him.
Flores turned up the heat in the fourth as Pineda began telegraphing his shots allowing Flores to pick his spots, as he pounded his opponent to the body with both hands. The fifth round was much of the same as Flores seemed to not be interested in stopping Pineda just yet, continuing to feed the man across from his a steady diet of lefts and rights to his belly.
To his credit, Pineda came out in the fifth more aggressive, trying to keep Flores off of him, letting both hands go. However, the bodywork delivered by Flores up to this point had sufficiently weakened Pineda so that Flores was able to walk right through the barrage. The round ended with Flores unleashing his own arsenal, throwing combinations at a blistering pace.
Standing from his stool to start the sixth, Flores seemed determined to end the contest. Flores began to fire the right hand, sending his opponent around the ring with every punch. After trapping Pineda against the ropes, Flores began dropping both hands on his opponent. Toward the end of the round, Referee Mike England had seen enough, determining that Pineda could not defend himself, ending the bout at 2:34.
Flores was asked after the fight how he thought he did. “I felt sharp tonight” He continued to add “this was my 3rd fight in 6 month and it was against a guy I was supposed to beat but beating someone impressively is always a tough thing. I executed my game plan and got him out faster than anybody else has ever knocked him out”.
Promoter Don King, who recently added Flores to his stable, was in attendance and was asked what was next for Flores and he said that a title fight is definitely in Flores future.
By Clint Rosser at ringside
Photos: David Martin Warr/DKP 2012