Bryan Flores is knocking on the doorstep of contender status at 140 pounds.

Flores returns to action Friday night, squaring off against late-sub Jorge Bermudez at the Gimnasio Municipal Josué Neri Santos in his hometown of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The 10-round bout will air live throughout Mexico on Televisa (7 p.m. ET, Mexico City time).

The 28-year-old Flores (25-0-1, 14 knockouts) will again be fighting in his hometown, where he has a huge fan base. Promoter Oswaldo Kuchle believes Flores is ready to take that next step forward in facing top contenders and making a name for himself, particularly in the United States.

“Bryan Flores is a fighter who can be characterized as a great talent with a lot of discipline, who at a young age, dedicated training camps with the Mexican National (Amateur) team, Mexico City, Hermosillo (Mexico), and now in Las Vegas,” Kuchle told The Ring late Tuesday night. “He wants to fulfill the dream of those who live in Ciudad Juarez of becoming its first world champion and, because of his efforts, he is close to achieving it.

“He has improved a great deal under the tutelage of (trainer) Ismael Salas. He trains alongside and spars against great champions, Olympic medalists and other contenders to make him a better version of himself. Bryan likes challenges, is ambitious, and wants to take on the world, but his opportunity will come at the right moment. He has had two fights in the United States and he did very well. He has the support and the next step is to look to fight the top contenders in the division.”

Flores scored the biggest win of his career, thus far, defeating hard-hitting Shinard Bunch by split-decision on April 7. Flores overcame a knockdown in the opening round, and was the more-effective boxer during the second half of the fight. 

The win over Bunch took place at Cache Creek Casino Resort in Brooks, California and headlined a ShoBox telecast. 

In his last bout on September 1, which also took place at the Gimnasio Municipal Josué Neri Santos, Flores stopped Eleazar Valenzuela in the third round. 

Flores will now face Bermudez, who took the fight on two days’ notice after original opponent Marios Matamba of South Africa was reportedly denied a visa from entering Mexico.

Bermudez (12-4, 5 KOs), who resides in Concordia, Argentina, defeated journeyman Jose Exequiel Sanchez by majority decision in his last bout on July 1. In his previous fight in December 2012, the 27-year-old was knocked out by unbeaten Henry Turner of England. 

In the co-feature, former world title challenger Miguel ‘Mickey’ Roman, who also resides in Ciudad Juarez, will face Japan’s Takuya Watanabe in a 10-round junior lightweight bout.

Roman (67-14, 49 KOs) defeated Alexis Nahuel Torres by decision over 10 one-sided roudns in his last bout on December 8. The 38-year-old is unbeaten (six fights) since losing by knockout to current WBC world junior lightweight titleholder O’Shaquie Foster in November 2020. 

Watanabe (40-12-2, 22 KOs), who resides in Tokyo, Japan, pulled off the most notable win of his career in December 2022, defeating former world featherweight titleholder Jhonny Gonzalez by majority decision. 

Former world junior bantamweight titleholder Diana Fernandez (30-4-1, 4 KOs) of Ciudad Juarez will square off against Argentina’s Soledad del Valle Frias (13-13-5, 4 KOs) in an eight-round bout. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (California) Star newspaper. He can be reached at [email protected]

Follow @FSalazarBoxing