Heriberto Flores overcame the awkwardness and questionable tactics of Dante Jardon to notch another win.

The rising prospect remained unbeaten after an eight-round unanimous decision over the former title challenger Friday evening at the Arena BUAP in Puebla, Mexico. Scores were 79-73, 78-73 and 76-75 for Guadalajara’s Flores, who was recently featured in The Ring’s ‘New Faces’ series.

Nothing came easy on the night for the 23-year-old Flores, who was forced to fight off his back foot early. Mexico City’s Jardon, 36, pushed forward in the first and second rounds, among the few frames where he made an impact.

Flores was able to settle into a groove in the third. He scored with counter left hooks and the occasional straight right to the head of Jardon.

Jardon was deducted a point on two separate occasions for hitting Flores in the back of the head. The second incident came after he was briefly rocked by a Flores left hook. Only one of the deductions was reflected on the final scorecards, however.

The infraction didn’t dull Jardon’s reckless enthusiasm. He still attempted to walk Flores down, but his punch output dropped during the second half of the fight. Flores continued landing left hooks to the head and mixed two-punch combinations to the head and body of Jardon.

The win was the third on the year for Flores (14-0, 11 knockouts). It came after his most impressive performance to date, a May 24 ten-round decision over 2016 Mexican Olympian Juan Pablo Romero on May 24.

Flores’ decision wins over Romero and now Jardon came after a previous five-fight knockout streak. That run included an impressive eighth-round stoppage of Ve Shawn Owens last Dec. 2 in Mexico City.

The 23-year-old scored his most impressive victory to date as a pro on December 2, stopping former prospect Ve Shawn Owens of Minneapolis in round 8.

Jardon (36-11, 26 KOs) is now 2-4 in his last six starts. The 18-year pro is still a serviceable opponent who can pull off the occasional upset. On this particular night, he fulfilled his role of forcing Flores to go eight hard rounds.

Also on the card:

Local flyweight Gabriela Sanchez defeated Japan’s Tomoku Okuda (8-7-2, 2 KOs) by decision over ten one-sided rounds. All three judges scored the bout 100-89 for Sanchez (11-6, 1 KO), who has won her last three starts.

Guadalajara’s unbeaten junior featherweight Christopher Lopez (18-0-2, 12 KOs) floored late sub Edwin Barrios (11-1, 8 KOs) twice before ending matters in the fifth round.

The show aired live on Televisa and was presented by Latin KO, headed by Oswaldo Kuchle.

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]

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