By Ian S Palmer
Danny Roman of Los Angeles, California will be defending his WBA Super Bantamweight Title against unbeaten Moises Flores of Mexico this Saturday, June 16th. The 12-round bout from Frisco, Texas can be seen live in the USA on Showtime while fans in Canada can catch it on TSN 2 at 11pm ET. Roman won the title via a ninth-round stoppage over Shun Kubo last September then defended it by unanimous decision over Ryo Matsumoto in February. Flores last fought in July when he was stopped in the first round by Guillermo Rigondeaux, but it was ruled an illegal blow and called a no-contest.
Roman is 28-years-old and has a record of 24-2-1 along with 9 Kos. He stands just over 5-feet-5-inches tall with a reach of 67.5 inches. He turned pro back in 2010 and has 165 rounds of experience since then. He’s not known as a heavy hitter and owns a current knockout ratio of just 33 per cent. Roman’s two losses came against Juan Reyes by eight-round unanimous decision in 2013 and to Takashi Okada by a four-round split decision in 2011. His draw was a four-round affair with Jensen Ramirez in his second pro fight in 2011.
Since turning pro Roman also won the vacant WBA-NABA Super Bantamweight Title in 2015 when be beat Daniel Noriega by a 10-round unanimous decision and then defended it four times. Roman’s biggest wins have been over Matsumoto, Kubo, Erik Ruiz, Adam Lopez, Marlon Olea and Ramiro Robles. He hasn’t really taken on the best of the division, but has done the job and is currently riding a 16-fight winning streak.
The 31-year-old Flores is a former IBO and interim WBA Super Bantamweight Champion who climbs through the ropes with a perfect mark of 25-0 with 17 Kos. He’s 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch reach and has 115 rounds under his belt since turning pro back in 2008. He’s got pretty good power with a current knockout ratio of 63 percent. Nicknamed Chucky, Flores is 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 69-inch reach, giving him a 3.5-inch height advantage and a 1-5-inch edge in reach over Roman.
Flores doesn’t always use his size by boxing on the outside though as he isn’t afraid to mix it up on the inside. Flores fought in his homeland only for the first several years of his pro career before making his debut in the U.S. in 2014. He faced interim WBA World Super Bantamweight Champion Oscar Escandon in April, 2015 and won the belt by split decision in an entertaining slugfest. He defended the belt against Luis Emanuel Cusolito and Paulus Ambunda and also won the IBO crown with the win over Ambunda.
Prediction…
This is a pretty good matchup even though neither boxer is that well known. Flores has the edge in size and power and at the end of the day I think that will be enough for him to lift the title from Roman.
