By Sean Reed

The evening began the same way as has past “TREC Fight Night” events in Dallas, Texas. Every year around this time, The Real Estate Council stages a charity boxing event, with the proceeds going towards neighborhood improvements, including affordable housing and afterschool programs.

Rarely does anything memorable come out of such events, other than the positive influence it has on the local community.

The game forever changed in the 2009 edition, thanks to the tragic events surrounding the main event, as the night ended with Benjamin Flores fighting for his life following his 8th round knockout loss to Al Seeger in their featherweight contest.

Prior to seeing him fight in the main event, the boxing career of Benjamin Flores was fairly innocuous to me.  Sadly, his name and pugilistic pursuit will now be stuck in my memories, haunting me forever. His bout with Seeger (28-4, 22 KO's), for the vacant NABF super bantamweight title, was a considerable step up in competition.

In hindsight, it may end up being the final step of Flores' life.
 
Throughout the bout, Seeger was faster, very strong, aggressive and accurate.  He consistently beat Flores to the punch and was virtually the busier fighter in each stanza, leaving Flores swollen under his left eye and visibly discouraged after six rounds. 

In the 8th, Seeger trapped Flores in his own (Seeger's) corner and pummeled him with a rapid fire array of shots. Flores wasn't punching back, leaving referee Laurence Cole no other recourse but to stop the affair. 

Though Seeger outclassed Flores throughout, he never really seemed to noticeably hurt Benjamin until it was too late. In fact, my initial thought was that Cole had intervened a bit prematurely, given there were no knockdowns. 

Nonetheless, after waving the fight off, Cole astutely noticed that something was wrong and held Flores up until a stool was gathered.  Unfortunately, Flores was unable to sit upright under his own power and asked Cole to allow him to lie down. 

Shortly thereafter, Flores lost consciousness.

At this point, emergency medical staff joined the ringside physician in aiding Flores.  Though his eyes were closed, Benjamin's arms would twitch every so often. 

The festive mood of the "Fight Night" ballroom quickly turned to concern and Benjamin's brother was inconsolable.  Some jackass who called himself a photographer jumped onto the ring apron to snap shots of Flores' prone body and was told to "show some class" by a wise, anonymous voice from the audience.

An oxygen mask was placed on Flores' face, his body was put on a stretcher and he was rushed to Parkland Hospital where he underwent surgery for swelling on his brain. 

After the medical procedure, members of Flores' camp said the prognosis didn't look good. 

At best, his boxing days are over and he can look back on his 23 bout career with pride.

Flores fought on Juan Diaz and Manny Pacquiao undercards as well as the Antonio Margarito vs. Miguel Cotto pay-per-view showdown in Las Vegas.  He also won the WBC Continental America's super bantamweight title.

Until further notice, I'll take the optimistic path as opposed to pondering the worst case scenario. 

God bless you, Benjamin Flores.