Santa Cruz and Flores both have family in mind Saturday

It’s a fight that has been almost a year in the making and it will be the co-feature Saturday night on the Las Vegas pay-per-view of the Wilder – Ortiz rematch That’s when the battle for the vacant WBA super featherweight title between Leo Santa Cruz and Miguel Flores will take place.

And On the Premier Boxing Champions preview show “Countdown to Santa Cruz vs .Flores” that aired Sunday on Fox, The Man known as “El Terremoto” (the Earthquake) made clear one of his main motivations for Saturday night will be winning another world title by moving up in weight:

1️⃣ WEEK Away from my World Title Fight❗️

Don’t miss #PBCCountdown: #SantaCruzFlores TONIGHT on FOX at midnight ET / 11:30 pm PT.

?ℹ️: https://t.co/OAUWQGEk88 pic.twitter.com/Vl3zha8URI

— Leo Santa Cruz (@leosantacruz2) November 17, 2019

“Why not go for a title in a 4th division? I think I can do it. And, when this opportunity (to fight Flores at 130 lb.) came, I jumped all over it.”

However, another part of Santa Cruz is story and of the PBC preview show was the cancer fight of Santa Cruz’s father and trainer, Jose.

The elder Santa Cruz, who’s been with the three division World Champ since his amateur days, continues to battle bone cancer, even though he described to the show that it is dormant or in remission, currently. Leo Santa Cruz, 36-1-1, 18 KOs,  knows not only the significance of the fight in terms of the history book, but also for his ailing father to see him to accomplish something that very few fighters have been able to do. That’s have his hand raised with a world title in four different weight divisions.

Meanwhile, his opponent, Miguel Flores, has been anxious to get this title shot against Santa Cruz, since suffering an ankle injury in training camp early this year that canceled their fight from back in February.

At 27 years of age and 24 – 2 Flores is fighting on the biggest stage of his career. And likewise he’s drawing inspiration off of a horrible situation involving his own family.

Flores’ older brother Benjamin, who introduced into the sport, was an up-and-coming junior featherweight prospect, died after a 2009 fight in Dallas. Miguel Flores fights in his memory and honor to try to capture a world championship that his brother was never able to attain. The younger Flores was shown standing in the entrance of his Houston home, where his brother’s portrait wearing a championship belt hangs.

He emotionally told PBC “Countdown” that his brother’s desire to be a World Championship is now one of his big motivations. And further, on the point of perhaps giving up the sport after his death,

“I don’t think it ever crossed my mind for one moment that I was going to stop boxing after my brother passed away. I always had it in my mind: I’m going to be world champion.”

This fight is expected to be an action packed, high-volume of punching battle, but clearly Santa Cruz is favored, as he has more experience and has huge title wins against the likes of Abner Mares and Carl Frampton.

Still, it will be and intriguing battle, as both fighters have much more than their own careers on their minds, when they step through the ropes Saturday night at the MGM Grand Arena.