Parker came into the fight having lost twice consecutively in the UK – as he was first beaten by Anthony Joshua in March and then by Dillian Whyte in July.
However, Parker fought in New Zealand for the first time in a year-and-a-half and wasted no time in blowing out the vastly under-matched Flores.
Parker came out for the first round using footwork to make Flores miss before beginning to utilise his jab and right hand.
Flores was on the receiving end of some clean right hands as the opening round came to a close.
In the second round, Parker began to hammer home to the body of Flores in a bid to slow his man down.
Parker was warned for a low blow in the second but did not receive any further punishment.
In the third, Parker pinned Flores into the corner and let his hands go as he slumped Flores with a shot to the mid section.
Despite Flores’ appeals for a low blow the shot was deemed above the belt and Parker recorded the knockout victory.
After the victory Parker was questioned about the low blows, however, Parker rubbished any talk of foul play as he celebrated winning for the first time this year.
Parker said: "I'm the fighter. There's a ref who does his job, and the judges. All I do is throw the punches and make them land.
"We finished the year on a high and now it's time to have a break.
"Alexander seems to think I hit him low three or four times. I know I hit him low once but that's the fight game.
"We had two losses this year and this is the fight we wanted to end the year with – a bang. We wanted the knockout and we got it.”
Parker's trainer Kevin Barry said: "We were badly looking for a knockout to end the year with and I thought Joe looked tremendous tonight.
"There's a lot of frustration in Joseph Parker tonight – we had a big year but, came up short and Joe really wanted to let his hands go and get the knockout."
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