10.08.07 – By Tim Nielson: Welterweight challenger Joshua Clottey (32-2, 19 KOs), putting in a workman-like performance, won a 10-round unanimous decision over Felix Flores (22-6, 16 KOs) on Thursday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final judges’ scores were 97-93, 99-91, and 100-90, all for Clottey. This was a supposed to be a stay-busy fight for Clottey, however, he was forced to work a little harder than what was expected by Flores, 31, who was making his first appearance in the ring in 14 months.
In the opening rounds, Clottey looked very impressive often throwing 3-5 punch combinations and multiple hooks. None, however, seemed to have any effect on Flores, who just kept coming forward to land his shots – mostly to the body – any chance he could get.
Starting in the fourth round, Clottey, began spending a lot of time on the ropes where he traded shots with Flores on the inside. For the most part, Flores did the better work during these occasions, landing hard body shots, while taking Clottey’s lightning-fast punches without any problem.
In between rounds, Clottey’s corner strongly advised him to stay off the ropes. In the fifth round, Clottey, responding to his corner’s advice, stayed in the center of the ring, constantly moving while throwing jabs, hooks and uppercuts at the plodding Flores. In the sixth round, Clottey returned to lying against the ropes and trading big shots with Flores on the inside. At the end of the round, Clottey went back to his corner breathing heavy, with his mouth open.
It was unclear at this point whether Clottey had re-injured his hands, which had been a major factor in his loss to Antonio Margarito in December 2006. Clottey had an excellent 7th round, hitting Flores at will with combinations and finishing the round strong by landing four massive right hands in the last 10 seconds. This round had a major effect on Flores, seemingly taking all the fight out of him like a air releasing from a balloon.
As Flores came out for the 8th round, his face was badly swollen around both eyes from the numerous shots he’d eaten up to that point, especially in the last round. Clottey continued to punish him, landing shots and moving out of range quickly before Flores could respond. Having been used to seeing Clottey as the aggressor in most of his bouts, it was somewhat odd to see him being chased around the ring. Clottey, however, was making the smart decision to stay on the outside because Flores, if nothing else, showed that he is very effective on the inside where he fights similar to Miguel Cotto, though without the same power of course.
There was little action in the 9th round, as if they had both agreed to not throw any punches. However, what little action there was favored Clottey, who still landed a handful of fast combinations towards the end of the round.
In the 10th round, Clottey finished strong by throwing numerous multiple combinations, like he’d been saving his best for the very last. As the round was nearing the end, Clottey threw a blistering four consecutive left hooks, and then a right to the head. It was very impressive to see, especially with the speed that Clottey had thrown them with.
Afterwards, Clottey made mention of wanting to fight the best, specifically Zab Judah, Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Paul Williams and Kermit Cintron.