Flores Jr impressive against Briceno
Gabriel Flores Jr., 35 days removed from his last ESPN fight appearance, made an impressive encore performance Saturday night. Flores (14-0, 6 KOs), the Stockton, California, native who packed more than 10,000 fans into the Stockton Arena on May 4 for his third-round knockout over Eduardo Pereira Reis, made the I-80 road trip to Reno and beat Salvador Briceno to gain an eight-round unanimous decision (79-73 and 78-74 twice) in the co-feature of Valdez retaining against Sanchez Saturday night.
Briceno (15-4, 9 KOs), from Guadalajara, Mexico, saw his two-bout winning streak snapped, while Flores improved to 3-0 in 2019.
At 19 years of age, Flores fastened his status as one of boxing’s lofty teenage talents. This contest was also a step up for him as this was the first contest he had at eight rounds that also went the distance.
The ?? from @G_Squad_Nation!#ValdezSanchez #FloresBriceno | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/islCwJFaJk
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 9, 2019
“I want to fight in the next two, three months. If they want me to fight next month, we can talk about it,” Flores said after the fight. “I am only 19, and I am only getting better. I’m staying busy and fighting better opponents. Top Rank is developing me perfectly, and it’s about fighting all different types of fighters to get me ready for the championship level.”
In other action on the card from Reno Saturday night:
Light heavyweight contender Michel Seals (23-2, 17 KOs) took matters into his own hands, knocking out veteran Christopher Brooker (14-7, 5 KOs) with a single right hand at 2:00 of the second round. Seals now has won three in a row since a controversial disqualification loss.
“He’s a tough guy. I did my homework on him,” Seals said after the fight. “I knew he was crafty, so I had to take my time. I knew I was going to walk him into something.”
Michael Seals drops Brooker for the KO!!#ValdezSanchez | @ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/eHFoEWrEyU
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 9, 2019
Robson Conceicao, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist for his native Brazil, improved to 13-0 with an eight-round unanimous decision over Carlos Ruiz (16-7-2, 6 KOs). Ruiz, who has fought the likes of Shakur Stevenson and former world champion Hozumi Hasegawa, has never been stopped as a pro. The judges scored the bout as followed: 80-72 (2x) and 79-73.
A little bit of showboating from @RobsonR60 ?#ValdezSanchez | @ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/91QFqOJubv
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 9, 2019
Diego Elizondo (2-0-2, 0 KOs) and Sergio Vega (2-0-1, 2 KOs) fought to a four-round draw in a crowd-pleasing lightweight bout. All three judges scored the contest 38-38.
Diego Elizondo and Sergio Vega going AT IT in Round 2!! ?#ValdezSanchez | @ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/6LrPqDo5oW
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 9, 2019
Reno native JJ Mariano had a successful pro debut, scoring a fourth-round TKO over William Flenoy in a super lightweight bout. Flenoy (0-1) injured his shoulder and was unable to continue.
JJ Mariano gets the knockdown with the right hand in front of his hometown crowd ?#ValdezSanchez | @ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/zmm620z2PT
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 8, 2019
Marquis Johns is a unknown humorist and avid boxing fan. His love for the sweet science goes back to when matches were 15 rounds and has been covering fights since closed-circuit pay-per-views. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth is not only a quote by Mike Tyson, it's also a pretty good reminder to keep your guard up.
