The 37 year-old was chosen for Bellew’s first defence of the belt the Briton won when knocking out Ilunga Makabu spectacularly in three rounds at Everton FC’s Goodison Park to fulfil a lifelong ambition last May.
There has been some considerable bad blood between the pair over social media during the build-up to the official announcement made last week and Flores explained why the needle existed between the pair.
“I want to fight the best fighters and he is considered one of the best,” Flores exclusively told World Boxing News.
“I want to test myself against the very best. Bellew KO’d the monster Makabu and he has a good following. He’s also quite blunt about what he feels and I like that.
“I watched his win over Makabu and it was amazing. To be honest, it cost be $5000,” he revealed.
Asked his thoughts on entering the lion’s den at the Echo Arena, Flores said he was looking forward to fighting in front on some of the most educated fans on the planet and having solid drug testing procedures in place.
“Heading to the UK doesn’t bother me at all,” said Flores. “The UK have very knowledgeable fans and my team has ensured me that we have a neutral referee and competent judges.
“In addition, unlike Russia and other countries that always have very ‘incomplete’ testing, the UK offers a very safe/secure procedure to guarantee that both fighters come in 100% clean of performance enhancing drugs.”
