Nicklaus Flaz hopes victory over ‘Tiger’ Johnson will catapult him towards title shot
Nov 5, 2025 • 7:00 PM ET
Nicklaus Flaz understands the importance of his fight on Friday with Delante ‘Tiger’ Johnson.
The 15-2 (10 KOs) contender is ranked at welterweight by both the IBF and the WBO, and the winner of Friday’s fight at Lakeland, Florida, will near a title shot.
Speaking from his camp in Puerto Rico, he said that his training has gone well, sparring has been good, and that he is more than ready. He had been due to face Peter Dobson in September, but an injury to the American forced him to wait.
“It’s going great, it’s be a really long training camp but it’s been good,” he said of training for Johnson. “We’re in good physical shape.
“Unfortunately, my last opponent got injured and the card was rescheduled, but now we are up against another great opponent and we haven’t stopped training. [Johnson’s] undefeated and an Olympian from [the] Tokyo [Games]; he’s a great opponent who, God willing, will catapult me to a world title.”
Johnson is 16-0 (7 KOs), boxed at the Olympics, and fought on Team USA for several years, travelling the world.
“I’m going to show them that Olympic boxing and professional boxing are completely different and I’m going to welcome him to real professional boxing,” Flaz added.
“As always, [I’m predicting] a great fight. I’m going to enjoy the fight, doing what I always do and putting on a show for my people.”
The super-middleweight contender Edgar Berlanga has tipped Flaz as a future star of Puerto Rican boxing, and Flaz revealed he’s studied Miguel Cotto, one of the island’s greats, and in particular his left hook.
Flaz impressed in his only previous outing of 2025, in which, in May, he stopped the experienced Alan Sanchez in four rounds in Kissimmee, Florida.
“It was a fight that we prepared well for – the gameplan worked out and we were able to stop him quickly,” Flaz explained.
And he hopes there’s a similar outcome when he headlines on ProBox TV on Friday evening.
“We’re expecting a great fight with lots of action,” he said.
“My goal is to become world champion, and we are very close to making it happen.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
