LAS VEGAS – David Morrell Jr. will fight for just the ninth time as a professional Saturday night.

The emerging southpaw is still listed by most sportsbooks as at least an 18-1 favorite to beat Brazilian veteran Yamaguchi Falcao in the co-feature before Gervonta Davis faces rival Ryan Garcia in their 12-round, 136-pound showdown at T-Mobile Arena. Assuming Morrell (8-0, 7 KOs) wins their fight for his secondary WBA super middleweight title, he knows exactly what he wants next.

“Right now, I’m 100-percent focused on this fight,” Morrell told BoxingScene.com. “This is a big opportunity. I’m focused on my opponent. I’m focused on the fight. That’s it. If I’m the winner of this fight, I’m focused a hundred percent on David Benavidez. I wanna fight him. I think he’ll wanna fight me, so let’s get it. No more excuses, no more nothing. Let’s fight.”

Benavidez has made it clear that he wants to challenge Canelo Alvarez next for the Mexican icon’s four 168-pound championships. But if the heavily favored Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs) defeats English southpaw John Ryder (32-5, 18 KOs) on May 6 at Akron Stadium in Zapopan, Mexico, he could pursue a rematch with WBA light heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs), who soundly defeated Alvarez in their 12-round, 175-pound title fight last May 7 at T-Mobile Arena.

“I think Canelo right now is not fighting Benavidez,” Morrell said.

If Alvarez beats Ryder and battles Bivol again in September or later this year, Morrell would be Benavidez’s most appealing option among super middleweights affiliated with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.

The relentless, strong Benavidez (26-0, 22 KOs) would unquestionably be the best opponent of Morrell’s three-year pro career. The confident Cuban is convinced, though, that he is more than ready to beat Benavidez in what would be a fascinating bout between unbeaten boxers both in the thick of their physical primes.

“I have everything,” Morrell said. “I feel I have moves, power, defense, the attack. I have everything to win the fight with me and Benavidez.”

While he doesn’t believe Benavidez can beat him, the 25-year-old Morrell gave the Phoenix native credit for his most recent performance. The 26-year-old Benavidez beat his rival, Caleb Plant, thoroughly in their 12-round fight for Benavidez’s WBC interim super middleweight title March 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

“To me, the first six rounds, Caleb Plant was winning,” Morrell said. “After the sixth round, he didn’t throw strong punches, nothing. He only went back, back, back. I was like, ‘What the f*** are you doing, man? You’re up in the fight. Keep going!’ I don’t know what he was doing. But congratulations to Benavidez. It was a good fight for him.”

If Benavidez had one more round with which to work, Morrell predicted he would’ve knocked out a bleeding, fatigued Plant (22-2, 13 KOs).

“Caleb Plant didn’t back up all the talk from the press conference,” Morrell said. “He talked the talk. He didn’t walk the walk.”

Morrell promised he’ll definitely deliver when he faces Falcao (24-1-1, 10 KOs, 1 NC), who replaced Ghana’s Sena Agbeko on a little more than one week’s notice. Agbeko (27-2, 21 KOs) was replaced by Falcao because the Nevada State Athletic Commission denied him a license due to an abnormality detected during one of his medical exams.

Morrell will fight Falcao in the third televised undercard bout that Showtime will air before Davis (28-0, 26 KOs) squares off against Garcia (23-0, 19 KOs). Showtime’s four-fight pay-per-view show is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. EDT and costs $84.99 if purchased through www.sho.com, www.PPV.com or cable/satellite operators.

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