Tonight PBC returns to FS1 with yet another Toe to Toe Tuesday show. In the main event, somewhat busted featherweight prospect Miguel Flores returns from his first defeat in a little deeper than I’d expect against former title challenger Chris Avalos. This is a must win fight for both combatants. The co-main event features Egyptian light heavyweight prospect Ahmed Elbiali in against the always extremely game Christopher Brooker in what should stylistically be an all action bout.
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In February, then an undefeated rising prospect, Miguel Flores (21-1, 9 KOs) met Vietnamese pressure fighter Dat Nguyen. On paper, it looked like a great fight for Flores. Nguyen is a bit of a wrecking ball who charges forward with intense, but crude pressure without much power behind it. This is the ideal style opponent for a young, high volume outside boxer like Flores.
Stylistically, it didn’t play out like that. Instead Nguyen’s unrelenting pressure was pretty easily able to break into the inside because Flores does not have the power behind his punches necessary to keep Dat away, nor had the developed the footwork to compensate for this. What we had was Dat Nguyen getting through and punching Miguel Flores in the face a lot. Perhaps most alarmingly, Dat Nguyen was pretty easily able to rock Flores despite having a knockout percentage barely greater than 30%.
In terms of pressure, Chris Avalos (26-5, 19 KOs) may lack a little of Nguyen’s intensity, but he still brings plenty. In terms of power, the comparison is night and day. Chris Avalos can punch. If Dat Nguyen can repeatedly hurt someone, Chris Avalos will certainly be able to land highly destructive shots. Without the unrelenting pressure he faced in April, Miguel Flores may be able to stop Avalos from getting in, but maybe not. Either eay, it won’t take many clean shots to put Flores in real trouble.
Avalos’s five losses have come via two razor thin split decisions against unbeaten fighters and by stoppage against Carl Frampton, Oscar Valdez, and top Filipino prospect Mark Magsayo. Frampton and Valdez are developed, word class fighters who treated him accordingly, but Avalos was able to sucker highly talented Magsayo into a bit of a brawl, dropping him along the way before being stopped himself.
Prior to the Nguyen fight, I had though pretty highly of Miguel Flores. I did not consider him a blue chip prospect, but I also didn’t believe him to be considerably lower than that status. Yet, here we are six months later with his entire status on the line. Should the 25 year old Houston fighter be stopped here once more, his status as a prospect will be completely gone. Chris Avalos, meanwhile, is in an oddly similar situation. There are only so many “quality” losses a fighter can take before he starts to de-legitimize himself. There has to be wins in there. Avalos may be at this point.
As high as I was on Miguel Flores, I have never thought as much about Ahmed Elbiali (15-0, 12 KOs). As an Egyptian fighter, it is easy to see why a promotional outfit might be excited about breaking into an entirely new market. Yet, in the ring, Elbiali is notably slow. He just isn’t an athlete. He is supposed to be a big puncher too, but I haven’t seen a ton of evidence of that.
The saving grace here is his opponent Christopher Brooker (12-3, 5 KOs). I have seen Brooker on ShoBox before and overall he is not a good fighter. What he is, however, is a super high volume light heavyweight who simply fights his heart out. His punches are crude and amaterish almost always, but they also almost always are flying at his opponent. If Elbiali has real power as claimed, this is a brilliant matchup for for the Egyptian as Brooker will be there to be smashed. If not, this is going to turn into a fight with real action potential that could go either way.
All in all, this is an especially strong Toe to Toe Tuesday. Both fights have multiple interesting angles that they could go towards. Both fights promise action on paper. Also on this card off television are former “heavyweight champion” Charles Martin, super middleweight title challenger Edwin Rodriguez, and once beaten popular PBC prospect Ryan Karl making his return from his first loss. All three are in very soft. Maybe we will get highlights or have one of the fights used to fill time.
