Nicklaus Flaz wins every round; JoJo Diaz loses on comeback

Puerto Rican welterweight Nicklaus Flaz used a steady flow of varied punches to keep Mexico’s Christian Gomez on the back foot en route to a dominant unanimous decision win at the Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Florida, on Saturday night. The fight was streamed on ProBox TV.

Flaz, 14-2 (9 KOs), was relaxed throughout, peppering Gomez with a constant fusillade of punches that kept the power-punching Mexican perpetually on the defensive.

Gomez looked unclear what he should be doing to try and counter Flaz’s offense, which came at him with speed and frequency, the Puerto Rican never pausing as he kept the punches flowing. In the third round, an overhand right hand-left hook combination landed clean for Flaz, and later in that frame Flaz landed a sneaky-fast uppercut followed by a right hand that had Gomez wobbled.

Gomez, 23-5-1 (21 KOs), spent much of the fourth trapped in a corner or against the ropes, unable to open up in the face of Flaz’s relentless offense. The Puerto Rican’s punches weren’t necessarily concussive, but bit by bit they chipped away at Gomez, who was at least able to land a big right uppercut at the end of the round.

By Round 6, it was all one-way traffic, Flaz standing in the pocket but slipping Gomez’s punches while rapidly returning into position to resume his perpetual motion offense. By the eighth, Gomez had retreated into his shell, gloves up high to pick off Flaz’s punches as he seemingly surrendered to the inevitable, and began to look forward to the closing bell. He would still mount a token offense whenever the opportunity presented itself, and in the ninth was able to score with a straight right hand, but he ate a rapid uppercut for his efforts and at round’s end was once more pinned in the corner.

Gomez attempted to make one last stand in the 10th, but it was Flaz who finished the fight on the verge of a knockout, digging his toes into the canvas and stiffening Gomez with a barrage of heavy punches.

While Gomez made it to the final bell, the scores were a formality, all three judges giving Flaz every round, with 100-90 scores across the board.

In the co-main event, junior middleweight Darrelle Valsaint appeared to be on his way to an impressive win against Angel Ruiz when an accidental head-butt opened up a major gash just above the bridge of Ruiz’s nose, causing blood to spurt onto the canvas and brought the fight to a premature and inconclusive end.

Valsaint, 11-0 (9 KOs), showed a varied offense behind a cultured southpaw jab, using his reach and the ring to his advantage to pick off Ruiz, 18-3-1 (13), as the Mexican barreled forward. A left hand snapped back Ruiz’s head in the second, prompting Ruiz to try and land a power punch in return, only to walk into more sharp counters.

Valsaint stabbed Ruiz with his jab and picked him apart with impressive punch variety in the third. A beautiful straight left landed behind a jab from Valsaint, who slid out of range seemingly every time Ruiz sought to step forward and close the gap.

Then, in Round 4, as Ruiz dove forward in an effort to trap Valsaint against the ropes, the two men clashed heads and Ruiz dropped to his hands and knees in pain. As his cutman attempted to stanch the blood flow, the contest was halted and declared a no-contest.

Former 130-pound titlist Joseph Diaz Jnr fell in his third defeat in a row and sixth in seven fights dating back to 2021, as he dropped a split decision to tough and awkward Abraham Montoya in a junior welterweight 10-rounder. 

It was a victory of sorts for Diaz simply to make it to the ring, as he closes in on 150 days sober after imploding his career and causing widespread collateral damage through alcoholism, but that will have been of little consolation after hearing the judges’ scorecards.

Although the former champ looked far from a world-beater against Montoya, his quick combinations – and particularly his lead left hand – appeared to be more than enough to secure the win over Montoya, who plowed forward in straight lines, always applying pressure, throwing awkward, pushed punches from occasionally unexpected angles.

The first announced score of 98-92 for Diaz seemed a little wide in the former titleholder’s favor, but it was arguably closer to the mark than the contrary scores of 98-92 and 97-93 for Montoya. With the win, Montoya climbs to 23-6-1 (14 KOs), while Diaz drops to 33-7-1 (15 KOs) and now faces an uncertain future in the ring.

In middleweight action, Filipino slugger Weljon Mindoro, 13-0-1 (13 KOs), dropped Luca De Abreu, 14-6 (11 KOs), twice at the end of the second round and knocked him out with a blistering right hand 22 seconds into the third.

Also, welterweight Emiliano Moreno, 11-0 (6 KOs), stopped Sergio Gil, 21-15-2 (13 KOs), in the fourth of a scheduled eight rounds.

In the night’s opening bout, Brian “BoMac” McIntyre-trained welterweight Charles Harris Jnr dropped Roberto Escobar in the first round and dominated him over the other five to win a unanimous decision by scores of 60-53 across the board. Harris climbs to 10-1 (7 KOs) while Escobar dropped to 6-4-1 (4 KOs).

Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcasted about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.