(Rhonda Costa / Premier Boxing Champions)
VERONA, New York – Coming off the longest layoff of his career, it was clear Curmel Moton was eager to make up for lost time.
Fighting for the first time since last May, the 19-year-old junior welterweight Moton never stopped punching, beating up the durable Wilfredo Flores to force a second-round stoppage in their scheduled 10-round fight Saturday here at Turning Stone Resort & Casino. The end came after the second round, when Flores remained in his corner, resulting in Moton moving to 9-0 (7 KOs).
Flores, of North Tonawanda, New York, dropped to 12-7-1 (5 KOs).
Moton started the fight with a quick pace, ripping crippling body punches to the body of the taller southpaw Flores. Moton’s left hooks, ripped with equal meanness to the head and body, kept Flores from circling out to his right, making him an open target for Moton’s power punching. Moton never stopped firing away, with each combination seemingly blending into the next. Flores was wobbled badly at the end of the second, and would have gone down if not for the ropes holding him up.
With his mouthpiece drenched in blood, Flores waved the white flag once the bell rang, leading to only the second-ever stoppage loss for the 36-year-old – and his first since a second-round TKO defeat against Gary Cully in 2023.
Moton, a Floyd Mayweather Jnr protege, has built a large following on social media thanks to his gym exploits at the Mayweather Gym in Las Vegas.
Earlier on the card, former amateur standout Shera Mae Patricio scored the biggest victory of her budding pro career thus far, defeating former titleholder Maribel Ramirez by unanimous decision in a six-round junior bantamweight bout.
The scores were 60-54 on one card and 59-55 on the other two, all for Patricio, 8-0 (3 KOs), of Waianae, Hawaii. Ramirez, 15-14-4 (3 KOs), a former WBA junior bantamweight titleholder from Mexico City, dropped her fourth straight in what was her first six-rounder in a decade.
After brawling for the first 30 seconds, Patricio returned to boxing, using her superior skills to score from the outside in the second. Ramirez was able to get to Patricio with looping shots and body punches, but Patricio was game to test her opponent, pushing her back with straighter punches that landed with greater accuracy. Patricio began to hurt the more experienced pro in the fourth, as digging left hooks to the body elicited…
2026-03-01 01:20:54
