Recently I had the opportunity to interview BJ Flores. BJ is a former IBO world title challenger, cruiserweight world title contender and premier analyst for NBC Sports. BJ Flores discussed his recent return to the ring after a long layoff, and what his future plans are. BJ also talked about the heavyweight scene now that Bermane Stiverne has been crowned the WBC champ. Lastly, Flores gives his views on Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’s recent ring performances and their status in the sport. Here is what BJ Flores had to say.
Robert Brown: BJ, you recently got back in the ring after an extended layoff. How was it like coming back after such a long time?
BJ Flores: Yeah it was great, it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I had some business things that were kind of pulling me away from boxing a little bit, I had to tie up some loose ends and take advantage of some opportunities business wise that I had in front of me at the time. I got all that taken care of now and now boxing has got my full attention again.
With the team I have in place I feel like it’s just a matter of time before I get the opportunity that I’ve always wanted for my whole career, which is a world title shot. We’re on a path now to get that opportunity and I got a bit of momentum and I’m looking to continue that momentum in my fight on June 28th and then hopefully for a world title shot after that.
Robert Brown: Is an opponent lined up for June 28th yet?
BJ Flores: I don’t know where it’s gonna be and I don’t have an opponent yet. My manager just mentioned to me that he’d like to get me back on that card and get me a few more rounds. The guy that I fought last Saturday was supposed to give me a few rounds and I didn’t get much work out of him, so we’re bringing a different guy and hopefully get a few rounds out of him, a nice little touch up before a big one in the fall.
Robert Brown: You mentioned you’d like to get a world title shot as soon as possible. Who would you like?
BJ Flores: The guy we’ve been targeting is the WBC champion, Krzysztof Włodarczyk. We’ve already been in discussions with him — we haven’t made a deal yet but we’re pretty close. That’s the guy that I’m looking to fight.
Robert Brown: You were on the Stiverne-Arreola undercard. Did you happen to see that fight, and what were your impressions of it?
BJ Flores: I think Chris Arreola fought a fight that wasn’t very smart for him — he was trying to come in and walk in on Stiverne — I think he needed to keep his distance more. Stiverne looked like he had fast hands and showed some good power.
Best wishes to both guys — Chris fought a valiant fight but it wasn’t his night and I think Stiverne’s got a lot to look forward to moving forward with Wladimir Klitschko calling him out and obviously Deontay Wilder. I think both of those are very big fights, but to be honest, I’d much rather see Deontay Wilder and Stiverne than Stiverne and Klitschko.
Robert Brown: Do you think the WBC will ignore the mandatory and give Klitschko the shot, or do you think Wilder will end up getting that shot against Stiverne?
BJ Flores: I don’t have a crystal ball in front of me but I do think that if Stiverne wants to fight an optional defense before his mandatory, he will be allowed to do that — that could be Klitschko, that could be someone else.
I just feel that Klitschko is obviously trying to get all the belts and have a monopoly of all the belts again, but I think Don King’s probably gonna take a different route. He might look for Wilder, he might look for someone else, but at the end of the day, they’re all gonna go where the money is.
Whoever makes the offer with the highest amount of money, I’m quite sure that’s what fight will end up happening. Could very well be Klitschko, but once the offers come in we’ll have more information which way it’s gonna go, because King is never one to turn down the money and Bermane has been kind of dormant and inactive for long enough and he wants to make some money now at this point in his career, so I’m sure that’s what they’re gonna do.
Robert Brown: Floyd Mayweather recently had a very tough fight against Marcos Maidana and Floyd spent a lot of time on the ropes. What did you think of the fight?
BJ Flores: Yeah he spent a lot of time on the ropes, he said he did it because he wanted to make it an entertaining fight. In my opinion, what I’ve seen of Floyd, there’s no question that he can fight however he wants, and it’s probably a good thing that he did it that way because otherwise it might have been a boring fight. Marcos Maidana fought a great fight, backed him up, caught him with some good shots and I think he made a great account for himself.
Robert Brown: Do you think Mayweather’s legs are starting to slow down at 37 years of age? Is that the reason why in recent fights he’s spending a lot more time on the ropes?
BJ Flores: No, I just think that he wanted to give the fans their money’s worth and he’s tired of reading some of the press clippings that say that Floyd Mayweather is boring and he can’t fight inside. I think he was more so trying to show that he can do those things and he’s got the ability to fight inside and make an entertaining fight. I think it was more so that than anything else.
Robert Brown: With Floyd’s most recent fight against Maidana and Manny Pacquiao’s recent fight against Timothy Bradley, does that change your opinion on who you think would win a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao?
BJ Flores: No, I still think Floyd beats Manny every time they fight. Manny is very good, very strong, but I think Mayweather finds a way to make an adjustment and definitely outboxes Manny.
Robert Brown: Do you think Timothy Bradley’s performance was more affected by his injury or by public pressure, was that the reason why he went for the knockout that much?
BJ Flores: Oh yeah definitely. I think he knows in his heart that he lost the first fight and in the second fight he wanted to go out there and put it all on the line and make a case for himself to really say, “Hey I lost but at least I tried.” I think at the end of the day he was okay with that.
He definitely tried to go for the knockout but Tim is not a knockout puncher at all, so it didn’t really make sense for him to do that. That was definitely a horrible gameplan, very bad gameplan.
Robert Brown: Who would you like to see Bradley get back into the ring against?
BJ Flores: I’d like to see Tim against Keith Thurman or Shawn Porter. I think both of those fights would be great fights. I’d like to see Manny against Keith Thurman or Shawn Porter, it doesn’t have to be only Floyd or only Manny. I think both of those guys make very interesting fights. I’d like to see Manny against Amir Khan, I’d like to see Floyd against Ruslan Provodnikov. A lot of different match ups, good exciting match ups are out there.
Robert Brown: Speaking of Manny, the fight against Bradley only had something like 760,000 PPV buys. Do you think that’s a direct result of the fact that Manny hasn’t had a knockout in three and a half years, or is his popularity deteriorating?
BJ Flores: No, he lost to Bradley the first fight — which I didn’t really think he did — and then the second fight he got knocked out by Marquez. You’re not gonna have a ton of buys whenever you lose two fights in a row. He’s older now, he’s not near the same buzz, so obviously he’s not as popular as he used to be but he’s still a popular fighter and he’s still a good fighter.
He’s not gonna draw what Floyd does, he just doesn’t have the marketability, he’s not as charismatic, he’s not as fun to watch. Of course he’s not gonna sell what Floyd does but it’s gonna be a little interesting.
Robert Brown: Do you have any news for what’s coming up on NBC Sports in the future?
BJ Flores: We got a fight on June 21st in Pennsylvania, the main event is an eliminator between the IBF 175lb light heavyweights. After that I’m not sure what’s next, but we’re looking forward to that, it’s gonna be a good card.
philippines is a small country but all filipinos support paquiao if philippines is as big as america paquiao ppv will be a million buys or more THING OF THAT
who is BJ Flores? I never heard of him..maybe BJ Penn.
Sucks to be you right now BJ! Oh it seems BJ is indeed a sucking deed. The only problem here is that you are trying to suck Gay like fighter in Floyd. Stop boxing as early as now coz you don’t know what craft you are trying to spend your life with.
Geez! Floyd is fun to watch over Manny? Give me a break, that only shows you how your knowledge is lacking for the sweet science. I say I will give you 6 rounds tops in the squared circle with me, an amateur casual fighter.
Never heard of him. Perhaps one of the flower vendors in a corner flower shop?
“He’s not gonna draw what Floyd does, he just doesn’t have the marketability, he’s not as charismatic, he’s not as fun to watch. Of course he’s not gonna sell what Floyd does but it’s gonna be a little interesting”
Floyd is a boring fighter to watch while Pacquiao is exciting to watch. Floyd is from U.S. while Pacquiao is from the Philippines. Oh BJ you were born only yeaterday…..
Really? Your so dumb
what is bj on? pac is not as exciting to watch as floyd? what are you watching?! you lose all credibility with your wack opinion. floyd more fun to watch? why because he likes to sucker punch, because he doesn’t like to engage, because he doesn’t take risks…the maidana fight was exciting? why because the b side was more exciting then the a side? stop the a side meth bj. floyd has nothing but poor matchups that’s why his fights are boring. at least manny takes risks and puts everything out there. that’s why he got ko’d to please the fans. a real champion takes risks for the greater reward. sometimes you fail, but sometimes you succeed. i will take that over 46-0 any day from someone who never challenged himself.
right on! Floyd Gayweather only sells PPV because many people wants to see him loose! Fight Pac so everyone will be happy
yes, that bj is bulshit
this asshole BJ sounds like a racist…..what makes you hates Filipinos? you compare the 8Times World Division Champion to your American Duck? what records he held now a days (Floyd)?,BJ….who holds the records of Boxer that send opponents to their retirement?,it’s Pacquiao,BJ,and seems your a maggot in boxing….
BJ dick riding Floyd hoping that his dick riding will land him a fight with Floyd.
There not even close to same weight class so they would never fight ..
Another bitch of Floydie.
bobo! Manny is filipino who idolize not only by filipino but in america and other country too! I think you are in drug so you don’t know what are u saying. Stop praising the fake coward floydie and tell him to show his white balls to face manny!
the writer of this article is so obvious a floyd fan and bj? can you try to become champion first before you utter awkward comments to 8 time world champion?
this gay is lack of attention that’s why he talk bullshit!
Thats a bullshit opinion by BJ Flores. Floyd always have higher PPV than Pacquiao because he always selected popular fighter on his undercards. Why not let floyd get the unknown fighter for his undercard and let see if he can surpass Pacquiao PPV. FLoyd is just a rider that the real reason why he always have higher PPV than Pacquiao. Pacquiao can sell his fight even he has unknown opponent as well as undercards.
Looks like a racist type … This guy BJ Flores should be rated with the likes of Hitler and Sterling . The most funny thing about his comment …. ” he is not as charismatic , as fun to watch ” ? Hahaha , and what does Mouthy Mayweather do ? Does it mean that keep on running like a chicken is fun to watch ???? Hey Mr. BJ Racist Flores …. open your eyes and listen to the boxing community all around the world ,not only in your neighborhood . You and the writer of this article , was just making a bad advertisement about Pacman to brain wash what was happen to Mouthweather during Maidana fight . All around the world knows that Mayweather lost that fight or basically as other critics say a DRAW . This article is to divert the negative side of Pacquiao in order to back-up their idolized chicken and look him good again . BJ Rcist Flores , shut up your mouth … win a title it’s just a jealousy . ….
Boxing is American organized sporting game held mostly in USA manage predominantly by US based officionados do you think they will accept defeat from other countries especially from what they call TCN? Man read history of boxing from the early days, boxing is not sport it was gambling business. though true to it there were then Filipinos fighting toe to toe with the American boxers. I wont name names do your research till you open your racist mind. That if you will have an IQ of a of an average man.
Lol how can he be racist if he’s Mexican/ German and mayweather a black …. Just curious …
mayweathers ^^^
BJ Florezzzzzz… he’s a MiX e can? … he BJ Floydie Gayweder.. lols!
BJ who?….c’mon Robert why didn’t you ask if maidana wears his usual glove do you think the coward would still be standing thier or he will be sleeping in his fathers pillow!…you really sucks!
Lol!! Cmon man. You don’t need to kiss floyd’s ass hoping he might read this article and give you a spot under his promotion…TMT wanna be hahaha!
BJ is promoted by Floyd’s promotion .. So maybe that’s why
BJ is for Blow job
All comments herein stated are against the author and BJ Flores. By the way BJ,,,how many fights did Floyd have and how many fights did Manny have. And who is older than the two? It is Manny who fought more than Floyd and he is younger than Floyd. Why is it that Manny has more fights than Floyd? Floyd has 46 wins…while Manny has more than 46 wins…Had Floyd fought as many as Manny have, do you think Floyd would have won all more than Manny and Why Floyd has lesser fights than Manny? What were transpired , is it not because of avoiding some dangerous opponents? Come on BJ……
Attention seeker, he is watching cartoon not boxing or probably he has Alzheimer know nothing his whats happening or trying to lure the public he knew that PACNATION will attack. great strategy keep mentioning PACMANS name and you get the attention you deserved even floyd does it better.
Haha… Nice interview… But careless and lost your credibility… You got helled.
BJ is an a walking idiot!
bj flores and who are you even pacman doesnt know you a bum fighter never heard not even a rated fighter he just looking for attention to millions of pacman fan knew him
I read that BJ Flores is actually rated # 2 WBO # 4 WBA AND # 4 WBC also a 2000 Olympian contender actually pretty impressed .
I don’t know BJ Flores but when I read the very start of this story that he said Pacquiao is not fun to watch I got a quick notion that this guy might be a mixed blood and when I look at his picture, most likely he’s a black Latino. Very few boxing fans out of the black community like the hit, run and hold style of Floyd Mayweather which they called sweet science? Mayweather fight always sells good on PPV when he fights Latinos[ not so much when he fought Mosley, because they’re both black] but the bigger part of the sales is from the Latino fans not from the Americans. We know for a fact that the Hispanics especially the Mexicans love the warrior style of boxing or the toe to toe. So a bigger part of the PPV sales where from the Latinos who want to see Floyd lose…Mayweather De La Joya fight is the highest PPV and Mayweather Canelo fight is second considering the difference of the dollar value before and today. It’s very clear that it’s not Floyd who draws the bigger crowd…misconception…
bj flores who? put this shit on a ppv card and it wont sell at least 10 buys! lols!
BJ Flores who? he’s a Bum boxer i think! he’s not event included in elite fighter… he sounds he doesn’t know about boxing, retired Mother F _ _ _ __ _!
BJ Flores NBC sports analysist for boxing and I believe he commentated Boxing Olympics last year ..
your name is not recognized by boxing afecionados bro! you just want to draw attention to your mother F _ – – – style! retire bro! you even sell 5 people to watch your mother F – – -0 _ n_ – ass!
Who the hell is this BJ? Pac not exciting as FLoyd? You lost whatever credibility you had with thtat comment. lol
Mr. Brown must have children like Floyd.. a gay, a criminal. a fake, a cry baby, a woman beater, one who can’t admit that a Filipino is the Greatest of All Time with 8 world division titles, make that 10 if he did not skip 112 to 122 division. Nobody ever comes close to Pacman’s accomplishment.
Whaaat??
He rides on Oscar and Canello’s dick that why he sells PPV.
Without them he is nothing..
Proof?? Guerrero and Maidana fight where is the PPV??
May I ask BJ, how much PPV does the Mayweather- Maidana generated? 850,000 buys, slightly over what Manny and Tim has made. Does that make Manny fight boring?
It’s good that you believe Mayweather would beat Manny, please call and convince him to fight Manny. If you can do it, you have done an amazing job that none has accomplished for the fight fans. Good Luck!!! May mayweather heed your call that he can easily vanquish Manny and cash more money in his bank.
Hope all of you Mayweather’s fans rally to convince your idol to fight Manny or else “NO GREEN BUCKS FOR MONEY”- that would be very effective I believe. Anyway it would be an easy fight for him. CONGRATULATIONS IN ADVANCE TO ALL OF YOU!!!
BLOW JOB FLORES….LMAOOO
A profound idiotic comparison. Let alone being an Asian. No foreign fighter could surpass a media created American cherry-picker who has the right mouth to suit. But watch out when that wide mouth once sealed by the Pacman. Stop the duck from ducking! The rest would be history!
bj flores, fuck you, be circumcise first, call ugly chicken monkey floyd to go with you, and suck the big dick of your worst nightmare manny the pacman pacquiao, to silence your big fishy mouth, motherfucker!!!!!
WHO is this BJ FLORES??? Blow Job Flowers?
charismatic like floyd, wow. i think thats stupid statement.floyd has big mouth and belittle pacmans accomplishment for his own sake. his even a racist himself.
PLEASE INTERVIEW THOSE ONLY WHO MAKE SENSE NOT SHIT!
@Mr Robert Brown you can be a good cartoon script writer try it you will be loved then.
Who is BJ Flores, I only knew one BJ and that was BJ Armstrong of the Chicago Bulls, and of course the other BJ which is nice.
can i youtube who’ s this guy is?
this guy talk too much,,, bullshittttttttttttt
another unknown fighter trying to be popular on Manny p expense
whos this pokemon?!
Lol at BJ Flores. Correct me if i’m wrong but weren’t you telling all positive things about Pac the last time?
Yeah, BJ Flores just signed with Al Haymon (Floyd’s manager). And BJ should be very thankful of that believing that it can resurrect his once promising career. Starting now BJ should say all good about Floyd. And there’s no stopping even if his remarks are against his past remarks.
There goes BJ Flores further saying Pac is not as charismatic as Floyd, not fun to watch. Now that was very funny. Pac is more charismatic than Floyd and if Pac’s fights were not exciting what do you call a Floyd fight?
Lol BJ’s getting insane now. The former BJ Flores knows that Pac is more charismatic and more exciting than Floyd. And about those PPV buys, BJ knows that Pac’s fights were attached with poor undercards and he’s no American or Mexican.
Got nothing against BJ Flores. It’s just that your once good commenting and analysis were getting bad.
Here’s my analysis on you BJ Flores (a ‘lil bit old, inactive and losing fire):
WBC – Your targeting Wlodarcyk’s belt asap. At your current situation right now ain’t no way you can beat the champ. You’ll get KO’d for sure.
WBA – You will regret facing Lebedev who will always stood in front of you. Another KO lost.
IBF – No way you can outbox this Cuban master. Losses by UD or if you’ll get lazy or gassed it’ll be a . TKO defeat.
WBO – Just pray Marco Huck moves to Heavyweight and vacates his title and you might get a good shot . at a title.
I say if not for all those inactivity issues you probably became a champion at your prime.
Anyway wish you all luck.
For Pac fans, it is sometimes hard to admit why PBF is more popular than the Pacman in the US, for one he is an American and Americans support their own, more so for African-Americans. They love and hate him alike, so no wonder PBF gets higher PPVs.
I bet, years from now sports networks will release a video collection of Pacquiao’s fights and a video collection of Mayweather fights, and guess what collection puts people to sleep while watching…keep guessing.
Floyd exciting fighter??? Manny not charismatic???
HAHAHA that was the most ridiculous and funniest comment ive heard in years!!!!
Blow Job Flores keep that shit to yourself
BJ Flores? I have never heard a thing about this guy. Who is he really? Another Pauli Malignantgi who talks too much but lacks boxing talents? Who is really boring to watch? Did BJ see the interview of Fraud Jr. by Larry Merchant when Larry asked him after one of his fights why fans were starting to leave just after ten rounds and making boos? Fraud Jr got angry and told Larry why he never gives him credit. Wow!!! An exciting fighter is never asked with this question. BJ come on, Fraud Jr is an exciting boxer when it comes to cherry picking opponents, sucker punching, cheating on weights and mouthing racist expletives. Be real BJ!!
Mr.BJ,never heard his name my entire life,i don’t where he came from. I hope the author next time to look for some credilble boxer to be interview not this mr.BJ never heard.
BJ flores? who are you? come here in the Philippines and fight our ordinary boxer in your weight class. maybe a debutant boxer can kick your ass here.
What a hypocrite Mr. Flores is, saying Mayweather’s fight is more entertaining than Pacquiao’s. He’s the only guy who said that. He might have based his view on PPV sales of both fighters not knowing that people watch Floyd’s fight to see him lose.He should just box, I think he sucks as an analyst.
BJ is the same as gayweather….
Flores works for the Al Haymon clan so to get media hype he elates Floydie the chicken against Pacquiao. He rides on both fighters to gain publicity…the only problem is, he just made a fool of himself doing this interview…everyone knows Pacquiao became popular because he is an exciting Asian fighter and was not scared of anyone bigger than himself. On the other hand, everyone knows even flomos that floydie is avoiding the fighter that will give his first loss so to keep winning, cherry picks opponents to control his undefeated record. PPV revenue reflects both popularity and notoriety. Floydie’s notoriety shoots up his PPV and he is happy with that. Most boxing fans want to see him losen plus he only rides on popular Mexican fighters with spectacular undercards. Dig?
Does this guy deserve an interview he is unknown to almost everyone. Where did they pick up this guy?