Miguel Flores has Homecoming on P4P Promotions Card

Houston native and world-class featherweight Miguel Flores returns to the ring as he tries to get himself back into the world title picture as he headlines a P4P promotions card at the Bayou Event Center in his hometown. It's the first time Flores has fought in his hometown in three years. He outpointed Diuhl Olguin at the Toyota Center in the summer of 2021 on the Jermall Charlo vs Juan Montiel card. Flores last fought in Australia in 2023 and was outpointed by Sam Goodman before the Flores fought ring legend and likely hall of famer Abner Mares to a draw in 2022. At 32, the Houston native will take on Michael Chaise Nelson, 21-2-1 (8), of Mansfield, Ohio. Nelson is coming off a split-decision win over Nestor Gonzalez in Venezuela. 

The card also features a loaded undercard as Undefeated southpaw lightweight and Houston native Oscar Perez puts his "0" on the line against St Louis, Missouri native Derrick Murray, a veteran of nearly 30 pro bouts and sports a respectable record of 19-9-1 (6). 

The card also features a title fight as San Antonio-based fighter Reina Tellez, 9-0-1 (5), takes on Jermesha Poke, 5-0 (2), in a battle of unbeaten for the NABF 122 pound title in a scheduled eight-rounder. 

The card also features two highly touted prospects. Fabian Arrendondo, 5-0 (1), also a Houston native, and Bryan, Texas native Chase Martinez, 1-0 (1), a junior middleweight, both prospects will be in four-round affairs.

Miguel Flores Battles Sam Goodman on Tszyu-Mendoza Card

Houston native and fan-favorite all-action fighter Miguel Flores from Houston, Texas, gets a massive opportunity in the co-main event of Tim Tazyu vs Brain Mendoza in Australia on Sunday. The 31-year-old former world title challenger last fought 13 months ago in Las Vegas and fought future Hall of Famer Abner Mares to a draw. After a slow start, the Houstonians rallied and ended up fighting the legend to the draw. He will now fight a surging prospect from New South Wales, Australia, Sam Goodman. Goodman scored the best victory of his career by beating Ra'eese Aleem in June. The Aussie also has a win over former world champ TJ Doheny and is putting himself in a position to be considered for the prospect of the here. Goodman has compiled a 15-0 (7) record. Flores challenged for a world title in November of 2019 and came up just short with the legendary Leo Santa Cruz on the undercard of Wilder-Cruz II. Flores has gone 1-1-1 (0) since he came up short in his world title bid and has compiled a professional record of 25-4-1 (12). 

Two Texans Get Short End of the Stick in California

The substance hardly ever matches the hype. The return of Abner Mares against Houston's Miguel "el Michoacano" Flores came with all the Fight of the Year type of hype. All action, all-Mexican slugfest between two fighters who desperately needed the win. The pair delivered and the substance matched the hype. 36-year-old Mares, a Hawaiian Gardens, California resident, returned from a four-year-layoff. He had not fought since a 2018 points loss to the legendary Leo Santa Cruz. If there was ring rust it didn't show as Mares got to work landing thudding counter shots on an aggressive Flores. Building up a lead in the early rounds, Flores began to flip the script in the fourth as he got his timing down and was able to get on the inside of Mares. As the fight evened up going into the final two rounds Mares looked faded as Flores was surging. The Houston native was willing to eat some clean right hands from Mares to get on the inside and rip body shots and clean left hooks that were taking a toll on the former three-division world champion. By the time the bell sounded to end the 10th round it certainly appeared that he had done enough to everyone in the Crypto.com Arena, except the three judges The Future Hall of Famer Mares got some home cooking and was awarded a majority decision draw with two judges scoring it 95-95 and the third handing in a shockingly bad 96-94 card.

Also on the card was the Fort Worth Wolf Tony Lopez, the Fort Worth native is no stranger to having tight decisions go the wrong way, and Sunday evening in the Crypto Arena was no different. A determined Fort Worth Wilf seemed to out-work and out-hustle his skillful opponent, Anthony Garnica boxed sharp from the outside using his reach to score with a sharp jab to try and keep The Wolf at bay he scored with the occasional right-hand that would stop Lopez in his tracks momentarily, but Lopez stayed determined and kept getting on the inside and slowing the unbeaten prospect down. At the end of a really close fight, California-based judges favored the Californians with two ogf, the three judges scoring in favor of the jab and movement of Garnica by scores of 59-55, and the third judge handed in an even card of 57-57, which is how most of the boxing world viewed the fight Garnica moved to 10-0-1 and Lopez fell to 17-11

Flores on Mares Fight "I am going to come away with the victory. I don't know how, but I am confident in myself"

'El Michoacano" Miguel Flores just turned 30 years old last month and has already had a rollercoaster of a career. After turning pro back in 2009 without much attention, and fanfare, Flores put in his time and grinded. Traveling all over the great Republic of Texas he built up a 23-0 record. He scored impressive high-action wins on big stages against Ryan Kielczweski, Mario Briones, and others. Flores got himself signed by PBC and signed with manager Luis DeCubas. He was in line for a title fight and had offers to fight then IBF champion Lee Selby. An opportunity he declined and opted for a homecoming fight in Houston against fringe contender Dat Nguyen. That's when things went sideways in a hurry. In a shocking upset, he got stopped by Nguyen in the sixth round in what appeared to be a quick stoppage by referee Laurence Cole. Cole was the same referee who was the third man in the ring in the fight that Flores's older brother, Benjamin, tragically passed away from just days later. "El Michoacano" returned to the ring just five months later against Chris Avalos. Flores dropped and dominated his opponent when the bout was called to a halt due to a cut. The cut was ruled to be from a legal punch and not a butt. Avalos was declared the winner, VIA 5th round TKO, in a fight, he was being beaten up and dominated.

Flores bounced back nicely and scored two consecutive stoppage victories before getting a call that he was going to fight Leo Santa Cruz for the 130-Pound Super Featherweight title. Flores took the fight at four pounds above his best weight saying, "we can make 126. I don't want to say easy, but that's what I prefer. We fought at 130 with Leo when the opportunity presented itself because we can't pass up on an opportunity like that." Flores fought valiantly with the future Hall of Famer but came up just short, dropping a close competitive decision. Flores proved he belonged with the elite 126 & 130 pounders. He then lost a follow-up fight with Eduardo Ramirez before beating up fringe contender Diuhl Olguin last June.

Flores now prepares for a career-defining fight with former 3-division world champion Abner Flores in the legend’s hometown of Los Angeles at the Crypto.com Arena. Flores is again jumping up in weight and not to 130 this time, but up to the lightweight limit of 135. He has no hesitation in moving up in weight again saying, "Mares wanted it at 135. He has his reasons. I am sure he was up there in weight and didn't want to do that big weight cut. He's not a natural 135-pounder, so it's not like we're going in there fighting a natural 135. His best days were at 118 and 122. He could have said we're fighting at 140 and I would have said fine.... 135 just means I am going to be fully healthy, I am eating well, and I am staying strong. It's one less thing we have to worry about is losing that extra few pounds."

Flores took the challenge without hesitation and gave credit to Mares for taking such a big challenge "He [Mares] didn't want a soft touch. He coulda got a guy he was positive he could knock out in five, six rounds. I am sure they threw a couple of names at him, and he picked me because I still have a valuable name. I still gave Santa Cruz a good war." Flores isn't showing up to be an opponent. He's not showing up to be a stepping stone in the comeback of a legend. He has put in an incredible camp and plans on using Mares' name to catapult himself back into a world title fight" His name still holds a lot of value, being a three-division world champion, a four-time world champion. His name holds a lot of value, people are gonna see dang he beat Abner Mares. It's going to open a lot of doors for me. Hopefully, it opens up another world title shot down the line. It's going to bring more money. We're prizefighters. It's going to bring more money to me and that's what we're looking for."

The Texan knows what's on the line and knows what to expect, " It's two Mexicans going at it. There's gonna be blood, there's gonna be hooks, there's gonna be body shots, there's gonna be a little bit of everything." He went on to say "I want to give the fans an exciting fight, but I want it to be a one-sided exciting fight. I had one of those, against Mario Briones a couple of years ago. It was an all-action fight but it was a one-sided sided fight. I dominated but he came and gave it his all. That's what I plan to do this September 4th." He plans on shutting up the Mares' hometown fans. He's confident of the win. A win that will propel his career and get him back to where he's supposed to be, near the top of the 126 and 130-pound divisions. Flores had an extremely testing camp, pushing hard through the extreme Texas heat " I'm confident in the work we've put in ...man this summer in Houston has been Hot! The crazy thing is we dont turn the AC on in the gym. It's 96 degrees at 9,10 in the morning. It feels like 120 with all the people in there. Bobby [Benton] is my main guy for this fight and he's the one coming up with the game plan. We're working on a couple of different things. Bobby is a world-class level trainer he's got Regis [Prograis] he's got O'shaquie Foster he's taken all those guys and put all those guys in the top five of their divisions. We've been working on a great game plan and you guys are gonna see that on September 4th. We've been grinding, it's been hell up in that gym, and God willing September 4th it's all gonna pay off."

Now, just weeks away from the career-defining fight against a ring legend, the now 30-year-old Texan remains ultra confident when asked for a prediction. A calm and ready Flores replied " My prediction is I am going to come away with the victory. I don't know how, but I am confident in myself and I am confident in the work I have done with my team that we are going to come away with this win."