Former IBF junior lightweight titleholder Joe Cordina will take the next step in his quest to become a two-weight world champion when he faces Gabriel Flores Jr. in the American’s hometown of Stockton, California, on Saturday.

The Welshman isn't unduly concerned about fighting on the road against an opponent who is revitalized and on a six-fight win streak.

"That could give him a little bit of confidence, [but they're] nowhere near the level I've been at or as good as me," Cordina (18-1, 9 KOs) told The Ring. "When the first punch is thrown, he'll soon realize it's a different calibre in there with him.

"He could say the same about me, but I've been at the level he's lost at, and I've been there a long time. We'll see on the night."

Cordina-Flores will be the co-feature to Diego Pacheco-Kevin Sadjo on DAZN beginning at 8p.m. ET/ 1 a.m. GMT

Initially, it looked like the recently turned 34-year-old may be returning to one of his familiar haunts in Monte Carlo, where he has twice fought previously, before the fight landed in the US.

"It's a change in scenery for me over in America - I don't mind," he said. "I've seen him fight before against Luis Alberto Lopez, so I've got a little bit of an idea how to beat him, it may have changed a little bit.

"Sometimes when things become difficult, they revert to what they know. I think if I get on top of him, he's going to have a hard night."

Cordina is now back up at lightweight where his early career took place.

However, after winning British and Commonwealth titles, he elected to drop to junior lightweight and after getting the opportunity to fight for the IBF title he scored a scintillating knockout over Kenichi Ogawa (KO 2) in June 2022.

Unfortunately, a hand injury saw him saw him stripped of his title before he had the chance to defend it. He returned 10 months later to edge past teak-tough Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov (SD 12) to regain his old belt.

After one defense against unheralded Edward Vazquez (MD 12) in Monte Carlo in November 2023, he surprisingly lost to Anthony Cacace (TKO 8) on the undercard of Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk in Riyadh in May 2024. After that he spent 14 months on the sidelines.

"When I had that conversation with Eddie, he said, 'Why didn't we have this conversation sooner? And you could have been straight out.' I don't know, I said, 'I wish I would have,'" Cordina lamented. "But unfortunately, I wasn't in control of my career at the point, my contract was up. Now, I'm self-managed, and can do my own thing, and my career is running smooth."

In the midst of that time off, a shot at Shakur Stevenson’s WBC lightweight title came about and fell out when the defending champion injured his hand. Cordina waited and the call didn’t come again.

That prompted him to control what he can control and move forwards with his career, which was kick-started against Jaret Gonzalez (UD 10) in July.

"The reason I picked him, they sent me about four or five opponents, some of them were unbeaten but no knockouts, I want a bit of fear because if I don't fear them there could be a slip up, so at least I'll be switched on," he explained. "There was no video of him, so I was going in blind.

"But for a Mexican to have that many knockouts, I was thinking, 'He's going to come forward.' He didn't he did exactly the opposite, he went on the back foot and started trying to box and trying to swing the odd one in. He's a very good fighter. If he came over here and fought some of the prospects over here, he'd beat most of them.

"After the first two rounds, I thought, 'I made a mistake here.' But I'm experienced and we got around it, after maybe three or four rounds it was a piece of piss. It was just unfamiliar for me being 14 months out of the ring. It felt like I was starting again.

Regardless, Cordina is positioning himself for a shot at recently minted WBO titleholder Abdullah Mason, who won the title by beating Sam Noakes in an exciting fight in Riyadh on Ring IV last month but first has to take care of Flores.

"[Flores] has got a bit more about him but it's not so much a step up, I needed to be back out," he said of looking to build momentum. "I'm not getting any younger, I'm 34, I need to wrack them up.

"Everything I wanted to do in the sport I've done. I've ticked them all off. Now I've got to set more goals otherwise there's no ambition there. It's solely to become a two-weight world champion and secure my family and that's all there is to it."

Flores (27-2, 8 KOs) turned professional at 17, in 2017. He became something of a popular local attraction and ran his record to 20-0. However, he lost his unbeaten record to unheralded future world champion Luis Alberto Lopez (UD 10) in September 2021.

The now 25-year-old rebounded with a narrow win over Abraham Montoya (MD 10) before suffering a loss to Giovanni Cabrera (UD 10) in July 2022. Since then, he has reeled off six wins over middling opposition in his homestead of northern California.