Ortiz vs Flores results and highlights: Luis Ortiz stops Alexander Flores in first round

Tonight’s PBC on FOX main event was another stinker for the brand with the biggest natural TV audience in the sport, as Luis Ortiz finished Alexander Flores in just 46 seconds of what was an obvious mismatch on paper and was even more of one in the ring.

Ortiz landed a recorded 3 of 10 punches, but the finisher was a body shot that sent Flores (who landed 0 of 1 punches) to the canvas:

Flores (18-3-1, 16 KO) has a decent enough looking W-L record until you do more than glance at it. He’s picked up a lot of club level wins, and even in one of those he went to a draw with a guy who was 4-4-2 in Costa Mesa, Calif., back in 2014. That came after a fourth round stoppage loss to Charles Martin in 2014. He also was stopped in three by Joseph Parker in Dec. 2018, and now this.

The 41-year-old Ortiz (32-2, 27 KO) still has hopes of becoming Cuba’s first pro heavyweight titleholder, but the best chances have likely passed him by given his age and the fact that the top heavyweights now are really good and a lot younger than him. He got two shots with Deontay Wilder and while competitive both times, he was stopped both times. He’s a top 10 heavyweight still, I really think that, but he might be a placeholder more than anything anymore. We learned nothing in this fight, as it turned out to be an even bigger waste of a FOX main event than anticipated. Ortiz did need to fight someone, but this was really bad matchmaking, even compared to some other bad Ortiz matchmaking over the years.

Frank Sanchez TKO-4 Brian Howard

Let’s just keep it simple: Sanchez (16-0, 12 KO) was several levels better than Howard (15-4, 12 KO) and the fight was not a contest at all.

Sanchez, a 28-year-old Cuban PBC seem to really be starting to like, just dominated Howard. Howard’s usually a totally game fighter, but two things:

1. Howard is a cruiserweight who has even dabbled at 175.
2. Gameness aside, Howard is a 40-year-old guy who loses big against decent opponents.

Howard just couldn’t do anything with Sanchez, getting dropped in the third and twice in the fourth. It’s not that he didn’t try, he just didn’t have the tools.

Michael Coffie KO-2 Joey Abell

Coffie (11-0, 8 KO) got a break on a PBC card in August, where he had a fun fight with Luis Pena, which was a total contrast in size, style, and body shape. Coffie is a huge man, 6’5”, 265-280 or so pounds, built solid, a real mountain of a guy. But he’s 34, inexperienced for his age, and he’s slow and fairly crude, to be kind. Brute force, though? Yes, he definitely has that.

That wasn’t so much in play here, though. Abell (35-11, 33 KO) was doing well early on, as the 39-year-old Minnesota southpaw vet was landing some shots, but then he appeared to tear his right biceps, and that was it in the second round.

Carlos Negron TKO-2 Rafael Rios

Negron, a 33-year-old Puerto Rican, improves to 22-3 (18 KO) with this win, with Rios dropping to 11-3 (8 KO). Rios is a 35-year-old Mexican-American, born in Tijuana and based in San Diego, and Negron was a big, big, big step up for him, even though Negron is hardly a serious contender.

Negron turned pro back in 2009 fighting around 185 pounds, between light heavyweight and cruiserweight, and when you look at him now — he moved to heavyweight in 2011 — at 245, it’s hard to imagine him ever having weighed that, because it’s not like he’s a little bowling ball guy, he’s 6’6” with an 83-inch reach. He is basically roster filler for PBC, but everyone has and needs roster filler. He’s not boring to watch, that’s all anyone is really asking.