Jay Harris’ step down to light-flyweight proved to be short lived as the former WBC flyweight title challenger was knocked out in the sixth round by Hector Gabriel Flores, of Mexico, in Cardiff,
It has proved to be a tough week for Britain’s little men after Harvey Horn was stopped by Fadhili Majiha on Thursday.
While Horn will be back, the way forward for Harris, at 31, after three defeats in four fights is not so clear. Having made his name with an impressive showing against Julio Cesar Martinez for the WBC flyweight title last year, Ricardo Sandoval beat him in June and the step down to light-flyweight ended in a decisive defeat too.
As against Sandoval, Harris’s downfall came from body shots. Rather than box, Harris tried to beat Flores by workrate, but found he was playing with fire.
Flores, 28, had never boxed outside Mexico before but came in unbeaten in 23 bouts – although that included four draws and a no-contest.
He certainly wasn’t overawed by boxing in the Welsh capital. Harris started by trying to walk down Flores, but the Mexican tucked up well and got through in the first round with three cracking left hooks.
Harris didn’t heed the warning, although he dominated the next two rounds, and generally looked sharper and faster.
In the fourth, though, there were signs again that Flores fancied his chances, as he landed a big left hook and followed it up with a concerted body assault. Then again, after a good start to the fifth by Harris, when Flores got close enough to land, the Welshman was caught with his hands low and made to eat some hard rights.
The sixth followed the same pattern at the start, Harris trying to overwhelm Flores by workrate, only for Flores to force Harris back into the ropes. As Harris tried to punch his way off the ropes, he was caught and dropped by a left to the body. He beat the count but tried to meet fire with fire, only for another body shot, a right hook, to drop Harris again. This time, referee Howard Foster counted him out, Harris regaining his feet just as the count reached ten. The time was 1:32.
Akeem Ennis-Brown returned to winning ways after losing his British and Commonwealth super-lightweight titles to Sam Maxwell via a disputed decision in August, as he claimed a ten-round unanimous decision over Argentina’s Daniel Alejandro Combi.
Jacob Robinson claimed the vacant Welsh featherweight title with a narrow ten-round decision over Angelo Dragone. Referee Reece Carter scored it 95-94, meaning Robinson’s eighth-round knockdown was decisive.
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.