In thoroughly unsettling news, it has been reported how former cruiserweight contender and recent Jake Paul trainer BJ Flores is currently in hospital in Colombia, being treated for a gunshot wound. Flores, who was travelling through Colombia on vacation, was shot in the leg. Flores is okay, and he has taken to social media to explain what happened.
Flores was held up in the red light district of the city of Medellin.
“Tonight I was attacked by two armed motorcycle drivers as a passenger at a red light,” Flores wrote on his instagram page. “They pulled up, stuck a gun to my head, tried to steal my wallet and my watch. They shot me one time in the leg and I tried to defend myself the best way I could. I am still in the emergency room waiting to have the bullet removed at 5:18 AM. Thank you for the well wishes. I will learn from this ….. be safe out there please. Life is precious. Thank God I’m alive.”
Flores has no doubt at all that the group of people he was with were targetted by the thieves and that things could have been so much worse. It really doesn’t bare thinking about what could have happened had Flores not been so quick to defend himself. At this time, we all wish BJ a speedy recovery.
A fine trainer today, 44 year old Flores notched up a decent career in the ring; BJ picking up wins over Darnell Wilson, Epifiano Mendoza, and Hugo Pineda, with Flores challenging for three versions of a world cruiserweight title, losing to Danny Green, Beibut Shumenov and Tony Bellew. Flores’ last fight came up at heavyweight, when he was stopped by Trevor Bryan back in August of 2018.
Since then, BJ has turned his hand to training fighters, and may he continue to do so once he has made a full recovery. There is simply too much gun crime to comprehend these days. As BJ says, be safe out there. If you can.