"I can compete with any of the guys in the featherweight division...if I can get Dat Nguyen out of there, I think I could silence a lot of those critics that say I can't punch. I think I'm a pretty good puncher and we are going to dig that body. He can take a pretty good head shot, but we're going to test that body," stated featherweight contender Miguel Flores, who talked about his upcoming clash with Dat Nguyen. Check it out!
PC: Big night for you on Tuesday night. You're headlining a PBC on FS1 show. How has everything been?
MF: Everything has been great. We had a great camp. I think from now on, every camp intensifies. Every camp gets harder, so we're ready. We know Dat Nguyen is not coming to get a paycheck and lay down. He's coming to win.
PC: Dat is on a 2-fight winning streak and, as you mentioned, he's never been the guy to come in and accept defeat. Are you expecting a war of attrition type of fight?
MF: Yes, definitely! We always prepared for war, but we also go in there to work intelligently. We can't go in there and stand toe-to-toe with the guy because we think that's what he's going to want to do. We gotta use our boxing ability, which we showed in our last fight against Ryan Kielczweski that we can box and we do have good speed and good footwork. So if it comes down to that, that's what we'll do, but like I showed against Mario Briones, I can go to war too.
PC: Kielczweski was 25-1. You pretty much dominated him and I viewed that fight as your coming out party. Did it feel that way to you as well, like that was your breakout performance fight?
MF: Yeah, definitely! That win against Kielczweski gave me a lot of confidence. I know that he only had one loss, which was a close decision loss and it could have gone his way. He could have easily been undefeated. Going into that fight, I realized that and I was a little worried, but after the fight, after I think I dominated, it made me realize that I'm able to compete at the top of the division. He was one of the top guys up there and that win gave me a confidence boost that I can compete with any of the guys in the featherweight division.
PC: Most fighters believes they can compete with the top guys, but it has to be a little doubt until you actually do it.
MF: It was a great confidence booster. I've watched the fight and there are so many things that I could have done to make it even easier. I learned so much from that fight. In the last round, Kielczweski hurt me with a good body shot, so we learned even in the last round in that last minute, we still have 60 seconds so we have to keep our guard up. It was a learning experience and confidence booster all in one. So for this fight, I think that Dat Nguyen is a different type of fighter. He don't box as much. He comes in and tries to impose his aggressiveness, which is going to play into my fighting style because I like to move and use my feet and he likes to brawl. So I think the fans will be in for a good show.
PC: Do you feel like you've had a good look and the right type of sparring, because sometimes it's hard to get someone to emulate a pressuring style?
MF: Yeah, definitely! In camp, my team always looks at the guy and they know who to bring in for sparring. For this fight, I was sparring with Pablo Cruz. He is an aggressive fighter. This kid Jesse Garcia that's signed to Top Rank and this other kid David Perez, trust me, they are not boxers; they all come to brawl. You hit them twice and they come back with 3 punches. I think that's the type of fighter Dat Nguyen is. He'll get hit once to land his shots. We're ready for whatever he has to bring. I'm not the type of fighter to say that I'm not looking for the knockout because every time I go in there, I try to throw every punch with knockout intention. So I'm definitely going in there to try and knock Dat Nguyen out, but we are definitely ready to go 10 rounds. I'm in shape, I've been 10 rounds before, and I'm ready to go do it all over again.
PC: I'm sure having the opportunity to be the first person to stop Dat Nguyen is in the back of your mind.
MF: That says a lot about him because he's been in with some top guys. The guys he's lost to have been top guys and they couldn't stop him. A lot of people I've heard say I don't have punching power, but I think they are wrong. After my fight with Mario Briones, a lot of people were looking at the picture we took after the fight and he was busted up. I think the lack of my knockouts lately has been the opposition. They're going in there to win and with a game plan. As the opposition gets harder, it's harder to get these guys out of there. But if I can get Dat Nguyen out of there, I think I could silence a lot of those critics that say I can't punch. I think I'm a pretty good puncher and we are going to dig that body. He can take a pretty good head shot, but we're going to test that body. It's like they say, you land to the body and the head will fall by itself.
PC: And you're a very good body puncher. Your opposition has been very good. Is that intentional so you can get in the featherweight title talks?
MF: Last year we fought 3 times and we fought all different styles. Mario Briones was the brawler and then we fought this kid Ruben Tamayo from Mexico, who was a southpaw, and then we fought Kielczweski, who was the boxer. I think we dominated all 3 of them. We did what people said we couldn't do; we boxed we brawled and beat a left-hander. I think after that fight...not looking ahead, but I think we will be ready to challenge for a world title against any of these top contenders. I'm not the type of guy to call anybody out. I'm not going to call out names, but I think with these performances, we raising our hand up and putting people on notice that we are there and we're ready for a world title shot.
PC: I know you have been here before, but how different is it to weigh in on a Monday and fight on a Tuesday? Does it throw anything off?
MF: At first, it was kind of weird, but we've done it before. We fought on Tuesdays before and it does throw you a little off because the weigh-in is on Monday and Sunday is usually your rest day, so you're used to coming off of a break day. We adjust to all of that. We were just talking about that the other day. I've fought on Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and all of that, so at the end of the day, you get yourself ready and if you're ready at all times, you could fight tomorrow or whenever the call comes in. We're ready! It doesn't matter if it's a Tuesday, it's the same ring and the same 8oz gloves that we will be using. We are ready for the challenge.
PC: Is it a special moment to headline this card on FS1 in your hometown of Houston, Texas or is this just another fight for you?
MF: When they told us we were fighting in Houston, we were pretty excited, but we're not trying to get too comfortable either. We're not trying to let the hometown advantage get to us. We headed to the hotel Saturday evening to get away and isolate from everything and treat this fight like it was a road fight. We're treating this fight like the Kielczweski fight, where we basically went to his backyard. I don't want to get too comfortable with my people here, so I'm treating this fight as if we're going to hostile territory.
PC: Thanks for your time, good luck to you on Tuesday night, and we will speak soon my man. Is there anything else you want to add?
MF: I hope everyone can tune in to Fox Sports 1. You guys are going to see some good fireworks from myself and it's going to be a great 2017 for me and my team, man!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]