By Francisco Salazar

Fringe contender Dat Nguyen was undaunted fighting in his opponent's hometown and being a significant underdog Tuesday night.

Nguyen came to fight, holding his ground and eventually stopping Miguel Flores in round six at the Silver Street Studios in Houston, Tex.

With the win, Nguyen improves to 20-3, 7 KOs. Flores, who entered the bout unbeaten, suffers his first defeat as a pro and falls to 21-1, 9 KOs.

Flores had faced modest opposition in recent fights, including decision victories over Mario Briones and Ruben Tamayo. In his previous bout on August 12, the 24-year-old Flores won a hard-fought 10 round decision over Ryan Kielczweski.

Following his unanimous decision loss to Jayson Velez in October of 2013, Nguyen did not fight for over two and a half years. He returned to the ring last year, winning twice over nondescript opposition.

Early on in Tuesday night's fight, the shorter Nguyen kept pace with Flores. Nguyen was able to get on the inside of Flores' reach and was able to connect repeatedly to the head, particularly with right hands.

"Flores is a warrior like all great Mexican fighters," said Nguyen, who is originally from Vietnam. "That is the style I try to fight with too. I fight with that heart every time I'm in the ring.

Nguyen looked as though he stunned Flores with a right hand in round two, but Flores was able hang on. Flores' face began to wear the brunt of the number of punches Nguyen landed as the bout progressed toward the middle rounds of the 10 round bout.

Over 30 seconds into round six, Nguyen dropped Flores with a left hook to the head. Flores stood up, but the end seemed near as Nguyen went in for the kill.

Nguyen landed a barrage of punches of punches as Flores attempted to hold on. Nguyen was abler o land a series of punches, prompting referee Laurence Cole to stop the bout at 1:03, despite Flores' objections.

"Miguel Flores is a tough guy and he's going to be a champion one day," said Nguyen. "Today was my day to win. Flores came in fighting like a warrior, but it didn't work out for him. I've been here 13 years as a professional and I finally got my shot at the top."

"I'm ready to take on bigger and better challenges."

In the co-feature, junior welterweight Darwin Price of Houston won a one-sided 10 round decision over Hylon Williams.

Price goes to 12-0, 6 KO, while Williams dropped to 16-4-1, 3 KOs.

Price was content to outbox Williams throughout the fight, never pressing the action to hurt or drop Williams, who seemed to fight more defensively as the bout progressed to the second half of the fight.

All three judges scored the bout 80-72 in favor of Price.

In the opening bout of the 'PBC on FS1' broadcast, junior featherweight Brandon Figueroa (11-0, 8 KOs) dropped Raul Chirino (10-5, 5 KOs) twice in round three and once more in round four en route to a fourth round knockout victory. Referee Laurence Cole stopped the bout at 1:30.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for krikya360.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, RingTV, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing