Two days prior to the big pay-per-view event, a Houston-based featherweight named Benjamin Flores found himself in the fight of his life. It began in a Dallas club show against Al Seeger in a featherweight contest. Four days later (and counting), it continues in a Dallas hospital, as the only fight left is the one for his life.

It was with great irony that boxing fans feared for the worst when Ricky Hatton fell flat on the mat after being concussed upon impact from Manny Pacquiao’s highlight-reel left hand that landed flush on his jaw. His eyes were open and he was - at worst - frozen for a few minutes, though you never got the sense that he would require medical assistance in leaving the ring.

Once on his feet, Hatton was able to make his way back to the dressing room. His future is now in question, but his bank account most certainly isn’t. He cleared $8 million guaranteed for six minutes of pain, and stands to make a lot more once they’re done collecting pay-per-view receipts. He also has the option to fight another day, or call it a career.

Benjamin Flores isn’t anywhere nearly as lucky.

For a lot less than even one percent of the aforementioned purse offering, Flores was left to toil on the club circuit, appearing on a show designed to benefit charities, with boxing often serving as the backdrop more so than the primary concern among those in attendance.

Chances are, they’ll remember how this one turned out.

Things went horribly awry in last week’s regional title fight. According to Boxingscene.com correspondent Sean Reed, the bout was competitive but in Seeger’s favor throughout. There were no knockdowns, but referee Laurence Cole didn’t like what he saw later in the fight, thus ending Flores’ night at 2:10 of the eighth round.

It is often said by boxing’s third men that they’d rather err on the side of caution rather than respond too late. This notion was taken into consideration by ringside observers, many of whom seemed to believe the stoppage to be a bit premature.

Instead, it turned out to save a life.

Four days after collapsing in a ring, Flores’ career is over, but will live to… well, live another day. He was sent to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where he underwent immediate brain surgery. His situation appeared to take a turn for the worse, to where life support was required to keep him alive.

In that regard, good news was to be found from the weekend. On location forwarded reports from Boxingscene.com’s Michael Campbell indicate that Flores has since been taken off of life support and began to breathe on his own.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is the fear that there exists irreparable brain damage, which gives him 100% chance of not only ever fighting again, but possibly never again realizing any lifelong dream.

It’s the cruel reality he faces just shy of his 25th birthday, which comes later this month. There will be no world title marches in his future, as he’s instead left to ponder what could’ve been.

Journeyman status wasn’t always in the cards, in fact far from it. Flores, just 19 years old when he turned pro late in 2003, was once on the verge of enjoying a breakthrough moment in his career, when he was set to appear on Showtime’s popular Shobox series. Undefeated at 11-0 and ready to prove his worth to the boxing world, Flores was slated to face Daniel Jimenez in the televised opener to Chad Dawson’s homecoming fight against Ian Gardner.

The main event went on as planned, but Flores was left standing at the altar in the co-feature that never was. Mere hours before the cameras were scheduled to roll, news came down of Jimenez failing his pre-fight MRI, thus cancelling their fight altogether.

It was the closest Flores came to enjoying notoriety of any kind. It was also the last time he would leave a fight card as an undefeated fighter.

Two losses quickly followed, beginning with a fourth round knockout loss to Juan Ramon Cruz in a January ’06 Telefutura swing bout, just two months after the Showtime bid that never was. A virtual shutout loss to Eduardo Escobedo in his own Houston backyward less than four months later left his once promising career in disarray.

From there, the only phone calls he would receive outside of local promotions were to play the role of opponent, such as his 2007 loss to Bernabe Concepcion on a Manny Pacquiao undercard in San Antonio.

The loss would be his last for another two years, enjoying a five-fight win streak, though largely against non-descript opposition. Then came last weekend’s showdown with Seeger.

The rest is history – just not the kind Benjamin Flores envisioned.

Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com and a voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Contact Jake at JakeNDaBox@gmail.com .