Super Featherweight contender Gabriel Flores is served a severe beating by Luis Alberto Lopez!
In his most recent in-ring tour of duty, super featherweight contender Gabriel Flores Jr (20-1, 7 KO’s) suffered a stunning upset loss. The career warping defeat came at the hands of Luis Alberto Lopez “El Venado” Vargas (23-2, 12 KO’s) by way of tenth round stoppage. Thus far in his career, the Top Rank fighter had remained a boxing dynamo. Not only has he been consistently outclassing the opposition put in front of him, he was barely losing rounds. Tonight the other shoe would drop harder than a prison yard stomp out.
Flores entered the bout ranked #12 (WBO) but that will surely dissolve into a much less desirable standing in the coming weeks. Trained by his father, this stood as the Californian kid’s second bout of the year. Despite the upheaval brought on by COVID-19, Flores remained busy by fighting a total of three times in 2020. Clearly, these rounds did little to prepare him for the lion’s den he was heading for.
Understandably the win comes as a great satisfaction for Lopez. The victory extended his two-year, six-fight win streak. Ahead of the prizefight, he was ranked #11 (WBA), although that standing is sure to skyrocket.
NOT WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT WAS!
It was Flores who supplied the pre-fight tough talk, but it was Lopez who jumped on him like a famished Tasmanian devil would a TV diner. The glaringly shorter Venado successfully darted in and out of punching range the entire period. Yet, in the first ten seconds, Lopez had the undefeated fighter on the back foot. By the end of the round, the Mexican connected with a number of crowd-pleasing, head-snapping shots. Flores was twice given hard warnings for clear low-blows.
Flores did markedly better in the second by keeping Lopez at bay much more successfully. They traded jabs near equally, and the output was roughly the same. Aside from that though, it was obvious that Lopez was the ring general whose shots carried the greater weight. He was also making a greater investment in the body. In the third round, Flores tightened his performance up a bit more.
BROKEN DREAMS AND SWOLLEN FACES
There was a marked drop in energy on the part of both fighters in the fourth, yet Flores had the flatter round by far. Over the next several rounds, Lopez chased the rabbit-footed Flores who was constantly going backwards or slithering along the ropes. The seventh began with Flores getting his head violently rocked back with a menacing four-piece combination; things would only get worse. He would go on to devour a series of grimace-inducing body shots. During the final thirty seconds Flores was unashamedly on his bike.
While nothing overly dramatic landed in the eighth, Gabriel Flores was just beaten and chopped up over the three minutes. In the closing minute of the ninth, Flores was rocked with a left hook and just barely survived the period. Hopelessly behind on the cards, Flores was bizarrely sent out to finish his beating in the tenth. After two minutes of being kicked around the ring, Lopez finally landed the inevitable right uppercut shot that should have ended the fight. After being hurt by the punch, Flores’ corner hopped on the ring to stop the bout. Due to not throwing a towel and the referee’s back being turned, the thumping continued. Ultimately, Lopez would walk away with a sensational upset unanimous decision win.
By: Bakari Simpson
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