Selby Defeats Flores

By Jack Figg: Andrew Selby (9-0) successfully improved his record to ten wins in as many bouts as he saw himself past the electric and dangerous Maximino Flores (23-3-1) of Mexico.

The fight was a final eliminator for the WBC flyweight crown, with Japan’s Daigo Higa currently the reigning champion. Going into the fight Selby was coming of an impress victory against Cristofer Rosales picking himself up off the canvas to seal a unanimous points victory.

As soon as the first bell sounded it was clear that the fight was going to be a clash of styles between the slick skills of Selby and the come forward pressure of Flores, drawing parallels between two of last month’s stand out world title bouts between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin and more recently Britain’s own Hughie Fury when he challenged for Joseph Parker’s WBO strap, both these fights drew a general conception of what would the judges prefer, the stylish backfoot combination punching, or the persistent pressure. This fight threatened to have this convention as Flores began the first round on the front foot pushing his Welsh opponent backwards, however Selby had an answer with eye catching combinations landing in the last minute of the round whilst also typically switch hitting.

As the fight continued it was obvious Flores’ gameplan was to aim for the body sinking in heavy body shots, however it was in round three that Selby showcased his first tactical offence as in typical fashion he implemented his well renowned kidology showboating to the crowd even letting Flores mount an offence at the end of the round landing clean shots on the Welshmen as he stood there unfazed with his hands down. This led to a strong telling off in his corner as he was told by his corner: “You mess about he’ll knock you out”, with tv commentator Richie Woodhall also expressing his disappointment with Selby saying at the end of the round: “For me he’s lost that round”, Selby’s familiar showboating is something Woodhall knows all too well having formerly coached Selby in the GB set up.

Rounds four and five saw Selby evidently up his productivity as he was beginning to throw punches in bunches whilst Flores was keeping up the constant pressure. Going into the middle rounds Selby was landing clean uppercuts and straight backhands from both the southpaw and orthodox position however after a spell of tidy boxing Selby reverted back to easy on the eye goading forcing a reaction from Flores allowing Selby to create cute angles to land his strikes. By rounds nine and ten Flores’ decided to fight fire with fire attempting to mimic Selby’s actions, throughout the fight Flores had success with his pressure however as the fight grew on Selby switched from boxing at range to meeting Flores on the inside as it was Selby who was just about coming out on top in the exchanges.

By round 12 the two touched gloves in a mark of respect despite the fight being filled with unsporting behaviour in the way of blatant goading. By the end of the fight it was clear Selby had done enough to walk away with the win however Selby allowed his opponent to make it a topic of discussion as he switched off in between rounds. In the end the scores came back wider than expected with Selby taking the unanimous points victory (119-109, 117-111, 117-112)

After the fight Selby said to channel 5: “I didn’t feel he had power” and when asked why he spent so much of his time showboating he replied with: “I can’t explain, I just get carried away”. When asked about using this tactic in future fights he said: “Next time you’ll see me with my hands higher...if i fight Daigo Higa he’s a banger he’s knocked everyone out” Chris Sanigar, Selby’s manager, told channel 5: “I was shouting at him all the time, he’s gotta keep his hands up”. Selby’s trainer Tony Borg followed up with criticism saying: “He lost his way a little bit with the clowning”, however Borg followed up this with praise of his man telling channel 5 that it was also a“Quality performance” and that the Flyweight is a “Really entertaining the most exciting fighter in the country”.

This leaves Selby as the mandatory challenger for Higa’s WBC title and the chance to follow up on his oustanding amatuer career and reach the same heights as his elder brother and IBF Featherweight champion Lee Selby. Earlier on in the night Luke Watkins dispatched of domestic rival Robin Dupre in the sixth round to capture the vacant Commonwealth Cruiserweight title