Sparring Manny Pacquiao taught Elijah Flores all he needed to know

Welterweight Elijah Flores knew he belonged among the best in professional boxing, despite his 3-9 record as an amateur after sparring Gervonta Davis and Manny Pacquiao.

Flores last fought in October, winning an eight-round unanimous decision over Omar Rosario at the Coliseo Roger L. Mendoza in Caguas, Puerto Rico. 

Flores, 9-0 (3 KOs), a 21-year-old who is now residing in San Bernardino, California, grew up in the Bronx, New York. His family moved to the West Coast when he was around 13 years old in hope of a better life. 

Boxing has been pivotal to his life. 

“I love telling people about my amateur background, because I didn’t have much experience,” Flores told BoxingScene. “I was 3-9 as an amateur, but what made that flip was sparring pound-for-pound fighters and champions.”

Flores reflected on sparring with Pacquiao and how humbling it was seeing the legend in the ring and getting pointers from him. Flores’ plight to this point has been anything but simple. He dropped out of high school as a freshman. 

“I was going down the wrong path, I ended up moving back to New York, when my parents got divorced, and when I moved back, I just started going downhill,” Flores said. “I was doing drugs, dropped out of school, and I was outside every day. I stopped boxing. If I kept going down that path, I wouldn’t be here.”

The anger and adversity he faced in his early teens are the burdens he brings to the ring with him.

“I genuinely feel when I step in the ring, I feel I am a different fighter,” Flores said. “I fight for entertainment. I got heart. I can bang. A lot of that comes from my childhood and my upbringing. Not having an amateur background and a lot of pain.”

Flores has been inactive since the biggest win of his career over Rosario. Now, he hopes to return soon with a tentative date of August. He explains that nothing about this year has been easy.

“It has been a rough patch,” Flores said. “There was a time when I wanted to quit. My grandmother died, I just sat in the gym, and I was lucky to have people around me, like my dad, who is also my coach, to push me.”