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00:00...Jürgen Hedlund!
00:13OK, Sadiq Obey, one pass to the back,
00:15no goals for the party.
00:17OK, back to the goalkeeper, OK?
00:21Take care.
00:24Referee Steve Gray, a man of many parts,
00:27in charge.
00:28All week in Liverpool, a little buzz in the boxing gyms,
00:32a lot of whispering and pointing at the way in yesterday.
00:34Javier Herrera is in town, he's created huge interest.
00:38Could he be the next big thing from Cuba?
00:41And where better than Liverpool to find out?
00:43Dick Tiger and Hogan Kidbassy sent on their way from Liverpool.
00:47Second zone, round one!
00:52So the southpaw grabs the centre of the ring,
00:55but he's up against, like-for-like, style-wise,
00:59in Oliver Flores.
01:02Top-class potential out of one corner, Richie.
01:04A long-time top operator in Flores out of the other, however.
01:09Indeed, you have someone who's very experienced in Flores.
01:13And Herrera, yeah, he's the new kid on the block, so to speak.
01:18Lots of talent, lots of skill.
01:20Originally from Cuba, and will have come through that Cuban system.
01:24So, yes, a lot of skill here in Herrera.
01:27But he's in against an experienced man,
01:30who's lost to three former world champions,
01:32so he fought at world level against former world champions.
01:36And he's experienced, so this is a test for Herrera.
01:41Flores fighting the best as long ago as 2015,
01:46when he challenged for the WBA World Super Featherweight title in Tokyo,
01:49one of only two inside-the-distance defeats.
01:52And the other man to beat him inside, Miguel Bergelt of Mexico,
01:56who went on to become a world champion.
02:00A very fine career it has been,
02:03but if a little haphazard over the last two to three years.
02:1033 now.
02:12And the 22-year-old Herrera, he's stepped over every stepping stone so far.
02:18Six wins inside three rounds.
02:21But this is a good start for Flores, Richie.
02:23Yes, not bad at all, is it?
02:25One of the problems that Flores has got, Paul,
02:28is that left hand of his is very, very low,
02:31so he's probably hoping if Herrera can get close enough to land his right hook.
02:36And that's the shot they'll have to watch out for here, Flores.
02:40And he comes in close, he just drops that backhand of his,
02:43that left hand, and that's a dangerous thing to do.
02:48But nevertheless, it's a fairly decent start from a more experienced man, Flores.
02:54Complete absence of panic, certainly, from Flores.
02:58When a kid starts to build a reputation as quickly as Herrera has done,
03:04the pressure can really come up even before the first bell comes.
03:09Not so in the case of Flores.
03:10So Herrera, with due measure for his respect,
03:13after a little bit of to-ing and fro-ing at the weigh-in yesterday,
03:18Herrera's been pretty businesslike.
03:24It's important in this first round, Paul,
03:26is Herrera just to establish his jab.
03:29You see Flores, the way he's boxing, he's bobbing and weaving,
03:33and he's coming at different angles and just making things awkward.
03:36He's not a static target.
03:37See how he dips down here and there?
03:39So that's what Herrera's got to do, he's just established that jab.
03:43There you go, simple shot.
03:45He just measures the distance and then he can set up his bigger punches.
03:49Snap left.
03:51It was a good scoring shot.
03:53Some really good combinations in the last couple of seconds of the round
03:56from Herrera. Classy work.
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04:38Welcome back, everybody.
04:38Joe McNally is in charge in the Padilla-Herrera corner.
04:43Just on the other side of the rope from that position,
04:45there's Anthony Coccaccio at ringside tonight
04:49after his latest big victory.
04:56Southpaw Academy, isn't it?
04:58Yeah, absolutely.
05:00Nightmare, the old Southpaws.
05:01But here we have two different styles.
05:05But Flores again, sort of that bobbing, weaving sort of...
05:12Occasionally just throws shots from a crouched position
05:15and just makes things awkward.
05:17And Herrera has just got to establish his job and just find his range.
05:23You see, that's a better shot there from him.
05:28He should be outreaching his man quite comfortably, Richie Herrera.
05:31He's 5'9", 5'7", Flores.
05:38Yes, Herrera's got the height to reach, hasn't he?
05:41But he's just neglected his jab up to now,
05:44but now he's starting to use it a little bit better.
05:47Like I said, he's in with an experienced boxer here.
05:52He's had one world title fight,
05:54and he's fought two or three world, four world champions,
05:56lands a decent shot there.
05:58So he's no more than Flores.
06:02Also, he does have a little bit of a dig himself.
06:0420 of his 31 victories by stoppage.
06:07Maybe Herrera's not fought too many with that kind of ratio.
06:11This is fight number 16 for Herrera.
06:13He turned pro, having, if I might use the term politely,
06:16escaped the amateur scene in Cuba, by whatever means.
06:22Turning pro, which most of them don't get the opportunity to do at that age, particularly.
06:28And he's 22 now, largely been campaigning in Dubai.
06:38Got to get that jab right.
06:39It seems a bit of a sloppy jab there from Herrera,
06:42and Flores came back with that left hand.
06:45If you look at Flores' feet, very flat-footed he is.
06:50So he prefers, he'd probably prefer Herrera just to stand in front of him
06:56and he won't like the movement of Herrera.
06:59Herrera, for me, has got to hit and move.
07:01Any flat-footed boxer then prefers the opponent to come at them to trade.
07:05But the movement then they struggle with because they're too flat-footed.
07:09So that's what Herrera, for me, has got to do behind that jab also.
07:13Use the movement.
07:15The thing is, men have been, especially in the last year, Richie,
07:18his opponents have been coming to him,
07:20and after two or three rounds he's been dispatching them.
07:23So that can become a habit.
07:25You start to expect that the next one will do the same,
07:27and it's a little bit more cagey and canny here from Flores.
07:31And effective.
07:32Yeah, absolutely.
07:36Some decent work with the lead hand there from Herrera just earlier.
07:39And again, look, simple jab, there you go.
07:41Just simple boxing that is, and measuring the distance and gap with that shot.
07:47I know he looks the part, Herrera,
07:50but what a decent work from Flores again in that round.
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08:30Don't set a punch where I'm hitting it.
08:33Don't give him the lot of the shot, OK?
08:35Welcome back, everybody.
08:37Javier Herrera's not having it all his own way in this fascinating,
08:40lightweight showdown at the top of the bill.
08:43Still some time to go, and wouldn't you know it,
08:45there's Ronnie Rios backstage.
08:48And very soon it'll be Nicky Ball's turn,
08:51but they're still celebrating stablemate Andrew Kane
08:54after his stellar show here earlier in Liverpool.
08:58Great crowd building up.
09:01Been a while, long time, since a really big Liverpool fight night like this.
09:08There's that right hook that we spoke about, Paul, earlier on.
09:12Herrera puts up in this third round right at the start of it.
09:16Real class about that.
09:18Flores looks in all kinds of problems,
09:21and Steve Gray doesn't give him the chance to beat the count.
09:24Herrera gives thanks.
09:26He stopped him right at the start of the third round.
09:29He exploded out of the corner.
09:31He got a bit of a ticking off from Joe McNally,
09:34and in whatever language, whatever terminology that was used,
09:38it worked like a charm.
09:40Yeah, it certainly did. He started the round really well.
09:42We spoke about the right hook earlier in the contest,
09:44and he landed an absolute cracker at the start of the round,
09:47and then he followed it up with some good shots.
09:49But yes, that talking to from Joe McNally,
09:51who didn't want him to stand and train.
09:53That's what he said in the corner, don't stand and train with him.
09:56And so that hit and move, what we spoke about also,
09:58certainly worked, and the right hook at the start of the round
10:02was a cracking shot.
10:04He just started things off, got his range,
10:08and yeah, his timing was spot on there.
10:14So out of nothing, it's taken away from Oliver Flores,
10:18who sits rather disconsolately on his stool
10:22while the party gets started across the ring.
10:25And apparently this kid does know how to party,
10:27but they're going to have to put a little check on that for a few years.
10:31Yeah, he's enjoying the moment, isn't he?
10:34I'll reserve judgment on that.
10:36I think we might be seeing that again very soon, Richie.
10:40Joe McNally has guaranteed, quote-unquote,
10:44guaranteed a future world champion.
10:46Do you see that in him, Richie?
10:47Yeah, well, you know, he's certainly got some good skills,
10:50and it'll be interesting to see how far he can go.
10:52There was the right hook that we spoke about,
10:54then he follows up there with that cracking left hand.
10:56That really did...
10:58And then, look at that, that left uppercut downstairs.
11:01That was into the solar plexus.
11:03You can see the pain across his face there.
11:06Oliver Flores, and he couldn't recover.
11:09The referee looked into his eyes, didn't like what he saw.
11:12Let's have a look at the hook. There's the hook there.
11:14So that starts things off.
11:15Then there's the left hand that comes in,
11:17and watch this body shot that follows up.
11:19So there's the right of the left hand there.
11:21Then he just takes a step back, comes in.
11:23Right uppercut downstairs into the solar plexus.
11:27That really did send him to the canvas.
11:30We say again, only 22 years of age,
11:34there's a swagger about him, and not just on fight night.
11:39Total self-belief.
11:41And in the end, Oliver Flores found out all about it
11:47after a very smart couple of rounds from him.
11:52Ladies and gentlemen, here is the official time.
11:5530 seconds of round number three.
11:58Our referee in charge, Steve Gray, waves off the contest.
12:02Therefore, your winner by way of technical knockout,
12:06still undefeated, and now the WBA Intercontinental Light Heavyweight Champion,
12:14So Herrera very shortly is going to collect that WBA Intercontinental belt
12:21from the WBA Superbight Championship.
12:24And the winner by way of technical knockout,
12:27still undefeated, and now the WBA Intercontinental Lightweight Champion,
12:36So Herrera very shortly is going to collect that WBA Intercontinental belt
12:42from the WBA Supervisor, Nina Ratcliffe.
12:46There's going to be a bandwagon rolling very quickly about this kid
12:49for very obvious reasons, so a few words of caution from us
12:52just to finish for the moment.
12:54Remember Robsi Ramirez, the devastatingly brilliant Cuban,
12:58how he dazzled at the Rio Olympics.
13:00He is now 14-2 in the pros.
13:03It really is that hard here at featherweight now.
13:06The kid he beat in the semi-final.