By Ryan Burton

Former cruiserweight contender BJ Flores (33-3-1)  began the second phase of his career as a heavyweight in February when he destroyed Jeremy Bates in the first round of their main event fight.  Flores dropped Bates 3 times with a nice combination of body and head punches, much to the delight of the 2300 cheering hometown fans at the sold out Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix.

Iron Boy Promotions VP Robert Vargas commented, "The fans love the knockouts! BJ showed that he is still very explosive against a very experienced and tough Jeremy Bates." Iron Boy matchmaker Mike Sanchez also chimed in, "Yeah we had about 2300 at Celebrity on Feb 25th. That's as many as we have ever done. BJ Flores still knows how to create excitement. The fans loved it."

The 38-year-old Flores is looking for a bigger fight in his next ring appearance and has a couple different options on the table. 

"One option is a fight on the undercard of the Fres Oquendo-Shannon Briggs June 3rd battle for the vacant WBA "regular" heavyweight, that will take place in Hollywood, Florida. I love Miami and I love where I am at right now. I just wanna get back in the ring as soon as possible and keep working to get better and improve," Flores explained.

There is also the possibility of facing former heavyweight titleholder Alexander Povetkin in a big fight in Russia on July 2nd. Povetkin, coming off two consecutive failed drug tests, is looking to fight again soon and clear his name.

"Alexander would be a major step up for me. Definitely he would be the best fighter I have faced. But if you look around you see that he has really struggled with guys like Marco Huck and Eddie Chambers. Tony Bellew has also had great success at heavyweight. Tall cruisers transition very well into the heavyweight division and I would love the opportunity as long as Alexander agrees to random USADA testing. Obviously he's already got a couple strikes against him," Flores told BoxingScene.com.

Flores immediately returned to the gym after the Bates fight and has stayed in good shape.  Flores said that his quality of life has been enhanced with the move up in weight and feels a lot healthier now that he doesn't have to boil his body down to the 200 pound cruiserweight limit.

"Look, it's no secret that I was having some serious health issues making 200 pounds. But I decided to do it and that was that. Now, my team and I have turned the page and we are focused in a new direction.   I have to keep working and keep improving. Sprints, plyometrics and all explosive movements. Speed kills. I got a long ways to go and I'm just happy to be at this new weight in this new division.  I am 100% different. I train better and I even sleep better.  I'm always happy," Flores said.

"My entire quality of life has changed by not starving myself for entire 8 week training camps. I have been robbing myself of power trying to make cruiser. Now I am a full 225 lbs and feel fantastic! Since it's NFL combine time I was curious so I went to the gym to see how many times I could bench press 225 pounds and I did it 20 times! I think that would make me a free safety or wide receiver! I feel amazing."