Flores claims Parker’s complacency will help me
Christchurch: Flores is claiming Joseph Parker’s complacency will wreck his Christmas homecoming.
The little-known Flores (17-1-1), who is ranked 176th in the world, is making a strong fist of selling tonight’s fight against Parker (24-2).
But talk is cheap and walking the walk against Parker, the former WBO world heavyweight champion, in the ring at Horncastle Arena is where Flores, 28, could start to struggle.
The Mexican fighter, who is based in the US, claims Parker and his team are grossly underestimating him and that will lead to him causing the upset of the year in the heavyweight division.
“I feel like he [Parker] thinks I’m a guy that he’ll walk through but it’s not going to happen,” Flores told Stuff.
“It’s going to be a lot harder than what he thinks.”
Flores has claimed he will be the first man to knock a “flawed” Parker out.
Flores, who has taken a liking to the coffee in New Zealand, announced he would stop Parker when speaking at a surprisingly low key press conference on Wednesday.
Parker swiftly replied: “After I knock him out I’ll buy him a coffee.”
But remember Frans Botha, Alexander Dimitrenko, Razvan Cojanu, Jason Bergman and Sherman Williams? They all came to New Zealand - or Samoa in Bergman’s case - with tough talk of stoppage wins over Parker that never eventuated.
And let’s not forget, Anthony Mundine claimed he would knock Jeff Horn out and we all know what way that 96 seconds of torture went.
This is boxing, where beef and big talk sells.
Flores, who stands at an almost identical height to Parker, claims he has never been so well prepared.
He has been sparring with former world championship challenger Dominic Breazeale, who went seven rounds with Anthony Joshua in 2016.
But Parker, who will be fighting on New Zealand soil for the first time in more than 18 months, is promising a show of his own with less movement and more asserting his physical dominance.
“I want to keep moving for this fight but I also want to sit down on my punches and really destroy someone,” Parker told Stuff. Parker who remains a top 10 contender, believes he will show he is levels above Flores.