Tuesday night at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in a fight televised live on Fox Sports 1, interim WBA World super bantamweight champion Moises Flores (24-0, 17 KOs), from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, successfully defended his title by stopping #8 ranked Luis Cusolito (21-2, 19 KOs), from Zarate, Buenos Aires, Argentina, at 0:57 of the 12th and final round.
It was an incredible fight, less a boxing match than an all-out war.
Fighting out of the blue corner in green trunks trimmed in red and white, Flores kept his unbeaten streak alive, but it wasn’t easy.
Cusolito, fighting out of the red corner in light blue trunks with silver trim, not only came to Bethlehem to fight, he also came to win.
The fighters traded punches and traded rounds with abandon. After the fifth round, Cusolito’s cornerman told him, “Heart of a champion.” Truer words were never spoken, but they applied to Flores as well.
After six rounds of blistering action, it was three rounds apiece.
With a modicum of defense, but with enough offense for a half dozen fights combined, Flores and Cusolito continued to go at it, landing punches with bad intentions almost at will.
Going into the 12th and final round, the fight was up for grabs. Flores had been slowly but surely breaking his man down, but Cusolito, if he was going out, it was going to be on his shield.
Referee Benjy Esteves Jr. saved him the trouble. Flores tapped into his reserves and was landing bombs as the fight was drawing to a close. He nailed Cusolito with several devastating punches, enough devastating punches for the ref to step in and wave it off.
Flores had connected with 271 punches to Cusolito’s 206.
After the fight, the bruised and battered but victorious WBA champion said, “You could see he didn’t want any more. Right now at this very moment I’m going to relax, take a vacation, and enjoy my family. But Leo Santa Cruz—I want that fight. I’ll move up in weight to 126, because I know it would be a great fight.”
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.
