Highlights
–Miguel Flores controlled the first three rounds, with his double-handed attacks to the head and body overcoming Ryan Kielczweski’s counters, most notably a left hook.
–Kielczweski’s best round was the fifth, when he backed Flores up with a series of jabs then rocked him with a right hand up the middle, followed by a right hand to the ear.
–Fighting mostly in retreat, Flores outhustled Kielczweski in the sixth and seventh rounds, then got the better of several toe-to-toe exchanges in Round 9. Kielczweski swept an action-packed 10th round on all three cards, but it wasn’t enough to pull out the win.
Miguel Flores was pretty certain his fight against Ryan Kielczweski would be the most difficult of his pro career, and he was on-point with that prediction. Good thing for Flores he was on-point with a good deal of his punches, too.
Miguel Flores delivers a big overhand right at Ryan Kielczweski during their action-packed, 10-round scrap Friday. Flores remained unbeaten with a hard-fought unanimous decision victory. (Brett Carlsen/Premier Boxing Champions)
In a clash of 126-pound contenders, Flores (21-0, 9 KOs) used an aggressive body attack, superior mobility and workmanlike speed and accuracy to separate himself from Kielczweski (25-2, 7 KOs) as he won a close 10-round unanimous decision.
Two judges scored the contest 96-94, while the third had it 97-93. That gave Flores his third consecutive 10-round victory this year, meaning the 24-year-old has now won all but one of his fights by stoppage or unanimous decision.
Making his first East Coast appearance, the Mexico-born, Houston-based Flores came out strong, effectively targeting the body with both hands while countering Kielczweski’s lateral movement. Both fighters stood toe-to-toe frequently throughout the early rounds, but Flores generally got the better of the exchanges by alternately moving forward and backward as Kielczweski struggled to find a rhythm.
After four rounds, Flores was sitting on a big lead, with Kielczweski winning just one round—the third—on a single card. But then “The Polish Prince” found his groove in the fifth, backing Flores into the corner with a trio of jabs before landing his biggest punch of the bout: a right hand up the middle that rocked his unbeaten foe, followed by a similarly potent right to the ear.
Kielczweski outlanded Flores 44-23 in the fifth, which the 27-year-old from Quincy, Massachusetts, swept on all three cards. From there, Kielczweski had Flores fighting mostly in retreat—seemingly out of necessity—as both fighters had their moments in the second half of the all-action contest.
Kielczweski took Round 8 thanks to a series of hooks and hard right hands that found the mark, but Flores answered by winning several toe-to-toe exchanges in the ninth.
Despite having previously gone 10 rounds only once, Kielczweski turned up the aggression in the final frame, which ended with both fighters firing big shots in a down-to-the-wire phone booth exchange.
Although Kielczweski swept the 10th, it wasn’t enough to save him from his second career defeat.
