24 Year old boxer Benjamin Flores dies of "Blunt force head injuries"

Last Thursday at the Hilton Anatole Dallas Benjamin Flores, a 24-year-old boxer from Houston, took a series of punches to the head and the fight was stopped in the eighth round.

On Tuesday, Flores died at Parkland Memorial Hospital. An autopsy showed that Flores died of "blunt force head injuries," according to the Dallas County medical examiner's office. The death was ruled accidental.
Flores' opponent, 29-year-old Al Seeger of Savannah, Ga., was said to be devastated after learning the news. He could not be reached for comment.

Flores was born in Morelia, Mexico, and became a professional boxer in Houston in 2003. It was not known when he came to the U.S.
When he wasn't boxing or training, Flores worked at a Taco Bell in Houston.
"He was a very promising young boxer that I've known for three or four years," said Bill Benton of Houston, who put the Dallas match together. "It was a title fight, a crossroads fight, something these fighters need in their careers."
Winning the federation's super bantamweight title would allow either fighter to move out of the so-called minor leagues of boxing and into more competitive matches, Benton said.

Until the Dallas fight, Flores had won 19 fights, including six by knockout, while losing four matches. He was ranked ninth in the federation's super bantamweight division, a category of fighters weighing up to 122 pounds. Seeger, his opponent, was ranked 16th in the same category.

Flores had last boxed at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas last July, winning in eight rounds. He had won the super bantamweight title of another boxing association at Gilley's Dallas in November 2007.

"[Flores] was very good. He had good hand speed," the longtime Dallas referee said. "He just went out there and boxed. But Al was taller and lankier and had a left-hand jab. There was not a lot of punishment."

Although Benton said he was convinced that Flores was ahead in the bout, the three judges gave Seeger a one- to five-point advantage through the seventh round, according to the scorecards filed with the state licensing department.

In the eighth round, Seeger threw a right-handed power punch that hit Flores in the ribs, Cole recalled. Flores was against the ropes in Seeger's corner.
"[Flores] covered up his face with his gloves. His thumbs were up against his forehead," the referee said. "Then Al threw about four punches to [Flores'] head. He wasn't defending himself anymore, so I stopped the fight."
It ended two minutes, 10 seconds into the three-minute round.
Cole said that he immediately pulled up a stool for Flores but that the fighter couldn't sit. Instead, the boxer asked if he could lie down on the canvas and immediately slipped into unconsciousness, the referee said.
Two ringside doctors jumped in and began working on the boxer. Medics, who also were positioned nearby, carried Flores to a waiting ambulance.

A very sad story...:verysad