LOS ANGELES – Miguel Flores’ older brother was 24 when he died in May 2009 from brain injuries sustained during a boxing match.

Ten years later, the 130-pound contender wants nothing more than to honor Benjamin Flores’ memory by upsetting Leo Santa Cruz on November 23 in their fight for a vacant version of the WBA’s super featherweight title. Houston’s Flores also has taken offense to those that state he doesn’t deserve this pay-per-view fight against Santa Cruz, a three-division champion who has been criticized at times for not boxing better opposition.

Flores, 27, expressed gratitude that this fight was rescheduled during a press conference Saturday at Staples Center. Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs) and Flores (24-2, 12 KOs) were supposed to fight February 16 in Los Angeles, but Flores suffered an ankle injury in training camp and Santa Cruz instead defeated Rafael Rivera by unanimous decision in a 12-rounder at Microsoft Theater.

“When the first fight got canceled, I was mad at myself, mad at the world, mad at everything,” Flores said. “But then, little by little, I realized, hey, everything does happen for a reason. Everybody knows my brother passed away in the ring. And don’t tell me I don’t deserve something, because I’ve spent hours running with my brother. I’ve spent hours at the gym. Don’t tell me I don’t deserve something. I know I deserve it and I’m gonna work my butt off to become world champion. Obviously, I have a great champion in front of me in Leo. But like I said, that’s only gonna produce a great, great, action-packed fight.”

Flores has won two bouts by technical knockout since suffering back-to-back TKO defeats to Dat Nguyen and Chris Avalos in 2017. He was beating Avalos on all three scorecards when their fight was stopped after the fifth round due to a cut above Flores’ left eye in July 2017.

“They say there’s no second chances in life, but for me there is. … Some things are just meant to happen,” Flores said. “And I guess the fight, myself with Leo, is just something that’s meant to happen. You know, a lot of people are mad about it. But after the fight, after y’all get a good, exciting fight, y’all are gonna wanna see a rematch, just like these two heavyweight guys [Deontay Wilder and Luis Ortiz].”

The 12-round, 130-pound title bout between Santa Cruz and Flores will be part of the Wilder-Ortiz undercard at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It’ll be part of FOX Sports Pay-Per-View’s four-fight broadcast that night.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.