Andrew Selby plots final steps to world title shot

 by Matt Bevan

ANDREW SELBY is closing in on a potential world title shot in the flyweight division, but first up for the “Superstar” he must navigate his way past Maximino Flores at the York Hall in London on Saturday night.

Selby’s 10th pro contest, he is currently 9-0 with 5 KO’s, will headline Channel 5’s latest offering and the Welshman is expecting a tough test from Flores, albeit one he is certain he will come through with flying colours.

The 28-year-old admits he has learned plenty from his last performance in Cardiff this May, when he was dropped by Cristofer Rosales and recovered to win on points and the highly decorated amateur believes he will be knocking on the door for a coveted world title shot early next year.

Selby said, “It’s been a long camp, but my weight is good and I’ve been sparring world champions so I’m more than ready for Saturday. Flores is going to come forward and throw a lot of punches so I’m expecting him to try and turn it into a tear-up.

“He has a high knockout ratio, so I know what he intends to do, so I’ll work around that. It’ll be another good win for me after the Rosales win, which was a great learning fight for me. He did put me down, but I wasn’t hurt, it was probably down to me not being warmed up early and the main lesson learned is to keeps my hands up properly.

“Whatever Flores does, I’ll be ready for it, so I’m sure people will see the best out of me. It’s another WBC eliminator so after I’ve won it, I’ll be ready for that shot at a world title. I’m hoping to get another fight in December, either an IBF or WBO eliminator, so I have a choice as to which route I go down to win my world title.”

Selby isn’t just setting his sights on winning a world title and future unification contests at flyweight and believes he is more than capable of securing belts up at super-flyweight and eventually bantamweight.

However, he is more than aware of the quality of the champions in his current weight division and is looking forward to throwing his name into the mix in the 112lb division with a win over Flores on Saturday at the historic York Hall.

“My eventual aim is to become a three-weight world champion starting at flyweight, so I’d love to win a title, defend it and then unify the belts before I move up. Super-flyweight is getting a lot of recognition at the moment and rightly so, so it would it be great to get myself into that mix.

“But, it won’t be easy at flyweight with the likes of Donnie Nietes, Daigo Higa and Kazuto Ioka, who are all top fighters, whilst Sho Kimura has just beaten Zou Shiming, so he is a good fighter as well, so it won’t be easy. We’d all love an easy world title fight, but it’s not likely to happen in this division.

“Whatever happens though, it’s Flores first and then whichever option provides me with the most money and my management advise me to go for. One day me and Lee could both be headlining a card in Wales, defending our world titles which would be incredible.”