By James Slater – World ranked cruiserweight B.J Flores returned to winning ways last night in Springfield, Missouri, as he punished Florida’s Nick Iannuzzi on the way to an impressive 5th-round corner retirement victory. 32-year-old Flores, having his first fight back since losing a 12-round decision to IBO cruiserweight boss Danny Green last November, improved to 25-1-1(16). 35-year-old Iannuzzi, known as “The Showstopper” fell to 16-3(9)..
Flores, known as “El Peligroso,” was in command all the way last night, and he almost got the job done in the very first round. A hard overhand right crashed onto Iannuzzi’s chin in the 1st and down he went. Up groggily at the count of “8” the older man was in bad shape and barely made it out of the round as Flores did all he could to finish him off.
Iannuzzi never really recovered and he pretty much went into full defensive mode for the remainder of the bout, using plenty of movement. Flores cut off the ring as best he could and went to the body. The 4th was a torrid round for the Floridian, as Flores applied more body work and yet more right hands upstairs. Iannuzzi looked a beaten fighter, barely making it through once again.
After another sustained attack in the 5th, during which Flores landed more body work and right hands to the head, Iannuzzi’s corner made the wise decision to pull their man out. Needles to say, Flores had won every round on all three cards of the judges.
A good return win for B.J, and proof that he can be way more aggressive than he was in the Green fight. Green, of course, has just lost his belt to 42-year-old Antonio Tarver, and if Flores had used more aggression in his own challenge of the Australian, he may have beaten “The Magic Man” to it. This is to take nothing away from Tarver, but deep down I’ll bet Flores wishes he’d gone for it more than he did last November.
In any case, the immaculately-conditioned 32-year-old is now back in the title picture (he did win the vacant NABA USA strap with last night’s win) and maybe a second “world” title shot will present itself. A Tarver-Flores clash would be most intriguing. Hopefully, Flores will see to it that he keeps himself active, with another fight coming off this year.