The experienced champion, who had a 33-fight unbeaten record going into the fight against 21 year-old Dixon, had far too much ring craft and power for the challenger and duly retained his green belt for a fourth time. Cuadras can now boast a record of 33-0-1, whilst Flores drops to 11-3-2 after being pitched in prematurely for his maiden world title shot.
In Montreal, former world super middleweight title holder Lucian Bute returned from an absence of a year and a half with a fourth round victory over former EU champion Andrea Di Luisa.
The veteran southpaw, 35, looked some way to getting back to his devastating best of four years ago in front of his home fans and can move on to bigger tests in the future after scoring his first win in 33 months.
Also on the bill, promising light heavyweight Eleider Alvarez continued on his path to an inevitable world title shot with a unanimous points triumph over Paraguayan Isidro Prieto. Alvarez, 31, is now 19-0 since turning pro in 2009 after ending Prieto’s 27-fight undefeated record at the Bell Centre.
Top heavyweight contender Vyacheslav Glazkov warmed-up for a potential world title eliminator with a routine stoppage of journeyman Kertson Manswell in Krasnodar, Russia. The Ukrainian took out Manswell in the fourth to successfully build on his recent close decision win over Steve Cunningham.
Finally, Brazilian legend and long-reigning ex-world champion Acelino ‘Popo’ Freitas recorded the 40th victory of his distinguished career by halting 17-loss Mateo Veron on home soil.
The 39 year-old was appearing in the ring for the first time since shocking young undefeated contender Michael Oliveira in 2012. Oliveira, billed as the ‘Brazilian Rocky’, was 22 years old and 16-0 when humbled by Freitas in the ninth round, and despite talks over a rematch, a second fight never materialized as the younger fighter suffered a second loss in 2013.
Freitas took just three rounds to take out Veron in Santos, Sao Paolo on Saturday night – although it remains unclear how many fights the ex-super featherweight ruler has left in him.
