Heavyweight BJ Flores picked up a win Saturday night, outboxing Nick Guivas over six one-sided rounds at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Arizona.

With the win, Flores moves to 34-3-1 (with 21 knockouts).

Flores, who resides in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, was coming off a first round stoppage victory over veteran Jeremy Bates on February 25. It was his first fight since losing by third round TKO to then-WBC cruiserweight titleholder Tony Bellew on October 15.

Flores is now fighting as a full-fledged heavyweight, tipping the scale at 230.5 pounds for the Guivas fight, seven-and-a-half pounds higher than when he fought Bates.

The 38-year-old Flores was the more effective fighter from the opening bell, utilizing his speed to outbox Guivas (13-7-2, 9 KOs), who is best known for losing to Jarrell Miller and Chazz Witherspoon.

Flores initiated exchanges from the center of the ring, working behind a jab or throwing lead right hands to the head of Guivas, who attempted to fight back but had little success landing anything with substance as the fight progressed.

Guivas backed up against the ropes as Flores walked him down, at times holding onto Flores or keeping him honest with an occasional left hook or right hand upstairs.

All three judges scored the bout 60-54 in favor of Flores, who is ranked No. 10 by the WBA.

In the most competitive fight of the evening, junior middleweight Vladimir Hernandez won a hard-fought, eight-round unanimous decision over Danny Valdivia.

Hernandez improves to 9-2 (with 6 KOs), while Valdivia (14-1, 10 KOs) suffers his first loss as a pro.

Valdivia, who recently fought on Top Rank’s “Solo Boxeo” cards, scored repeatedly to the head from the opening bell, stunning Hernandez on two occasions early in the first round. Undaunted, the southpaw Hernandez closed the distance, working in the pocket and connecting to the head and body.

Hernandez found a rhythm as the fight progressed, throwing and landing three four-punch combinations. Valdivia’s lack of lateral movement, coupled with being content to remain in the pocket to land one big punch, allowed Hernandez to land left hands to Valdivia’s head. Valdivia did land a counter right hand near the end of round four, momentarily stunning Hernandez, but was not able to follow up and connect as the round concluded.

The pace of the fight slowed during the second half of the fight but Hernandez walked Valdivia down, scoring repeatedly with left hands, while Valdivia continued to throw one right hand at a time.

Scores were 77-75 twice and 78-74 for Hernandez.

Heavyweight Adam Stewart (4-0-1, 2 KOs) knocked out Michael Smith at 1:04 of the second round. Smith was making his pro debut.

Junior featherweight Edgar Ortiz (5-1, 3 KOs) knocked out Steve Lantry (0-2) at 2:31 of the second round.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV.com since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper, BoxingScene.com and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing.

Struggling to locate a copy of THE RING Magazine? Try here or…

SUBSCRIBE

You can subscribe to the print and digital editions of THE RING Magazine by clicking the banner or here. You can also order the current issue, which is on newsstands, or back issues from our subscribe page. On the cover this month: Vasyl “Hi-Tech” Lomachenko.