After traveling to the East Coast for one of the toughest fights of his still-perfect career, Miguel Flores is returning home as he tries to continue his climb up the 130-pound ladder.
Miguel Flores scores with an overhand right during his August 12 victory over Ryan Kielczweski. Flores will return to his hometown of Houston on February 21 and risk his 21-0 record against Dat Nguyen. (Brett Carlsen/Premier Boxing Champions)
Miguel Flores (21-0, 9 KOs) will put his unbeaten record on the line February 21 when he faces Dat Nguyen (19-3, 6 KOs) in a 130-pound showdown at Silver Street in Flores’ hometown of Houston. The 10-round fight headlines a Toe-to-Toe Tuesdays card on Fox Sports 1 (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).
The card also will feature unbeaten 122-pound prospect Brandon Figueroa (10-0, 7 KOs) in a six-round bout and undefeated 140-pound prospect Darwin Price (11-0, 6 KOs) in an eight-round matchup.
Flores will be back in action for the first time since August 12, when he earned a hard-fought, 10-round unanimous decision over Ryan Kielczweski, prevailing by scores of 97-93 and 96-94 twice.
That bout in Verona, New York, represented Flores’ first fight east of Texas. In fact, the Mexico-born Flores has competed in his adopted home state 18 times in 21 career contests, including six times in Houston.
This time around, the 24-year-old Flores will be battling a veteran opponent in Nguyen, a native of Vietnam now residing in Vero Beach, Florida, who turned professional nearly 13 years ago.
While the 34-year-old Nguyen has lost three times, those defeats came against opponents who had a combined record of 37-0.
“I’m very thrilled to be headlining another show on FS1 and Fox Deportes, especially in my home state of Texas,” said Flores, who has won all but one of his fights by stoppage or unanimous decision. “Dat Nguyen is a very talented fighter who’s been in the ring with some good opponents. His only losses were against fighters who were undefeated at the time.
“I’m expecting a rough fight, which should make for good television. Everyone should tune in, because this is going to be a great fight with a lot of action.”
While Flores has been one of the most active fighters in the sport in recent years—this will be his eighth bout since May 2015—the opposite is true of Nguyen, who has been in the ring just four times since October 2009.
However, he did fight twice in less than a month last year, when he earned a pair of six-round unanimous decisions against Gustavo Molina on May 8 and Jesus Lule on June 3, both in Florida. Those victories followed consecutive losses to Luis Orlando Del Valle (12-0) and Jayson Velez (20-0) in June 2011 and October 2013, respectively.
“I know my career has had its ups and downs, but a win over Flores would bring me back to the top,” said Nguyen, who is 2-0 competing in Texas, with both bouts taking place in Houston in 2009. “Flores is young, hungry and undefeated. I once had that fear of losing, so I know what it will take to beat him.
“I would like to thank all of my fans and countrymen for their support, and I will make them proud.”
For complete coverage of Flores vs Nguyen, hit up our fight page.
