Miguel Flores has drawn even more motivation from Leo Santa Cruz discussing higher-profile fights these past couple months.

Santa Cruz is listed by some Internet sports books as an astounding 100-1 favorite over Flores in advance of their 12-round fight Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Ultimately, the three-division champion hopes defeating Flores leads to a showdown with Gervonta Davis (22-0, 21 KOs), who gave up the WBA “super” 130-pound title for which Santa Cruz and Flores will fight Saturday night to jump up to lightweight.

“Every time I hear that they’re planning on a Gervonta Davis and Leo Santa Cruz pay-per-view fight for next year, or Leo Santa Cruz trying to fight Gary Russell, I love hearing that stuff,” Flores said during a recent conference call. “I want him thinking about stuff like that. I hope he’s thinking about stuff like that. Because guess what? I wake up in the morning, I only got one person to think of. I look at my kids, give them a kiss, and then right away I think about Leo Santa Cruz, and that’s the only fighter I’m thinking of.”

Houston’s Flores (24-2, 12 KOs) could completely change the course of his career by upsetting Santa Cruz on the Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz undercard.

The 27-year-old Flores has won two bouts by technical knockout since suffering back-to-back TKO defeats to Dat Nguyen and Chris Avalos in 2017. He is widely viewed as little more, however, than a tune-up for Santa Cruz, who will fight at the 130-pound limit for the first time in his 13-year pro career.

Santa Cruz, 31, has emphasized throughout this promotion that he isn’t overlooking Flores. His opponent hopes Santa Cruz (36-1-1, 19 KOs) is simply saying the right things as they moved toward a 12-round fight FOX Sports will distribute as part of a four-fight pay-per-view broadcast Saturday night ($74.95 in HD; 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).

“If he’s thinking about other fights, that’s great for me,” said Flores, who has fought just once in the past 18 months. “Like I said before, I know he’s a professional. So, I hope he’s not looking past me. I know he’s doing his job. He has a great team with his dad and his brothers. So, I know they’re doing their job. But if they’re looking past me, they’re gonna be in for a tough night.”

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