Australian boxing sensation Billy ''The Kid'' Dib makes the first defence of his IBF featherweight title when he takes on Italy's Alberto Servidei at the Homebush Sports Center in New South Wales, Australia on Saturday night. 26 year old Dib won the title vacated by Cuba's Yuriorkis Gamboa with a unanimous decision over Mexican Jorge Lacierva in July. Challenger Servidei is the IBF's 8th ranked contender and is undefeated in 33 fights. Local boy Dib and a strong local Italian-Australian community have guaranteed a 10,000 capacity sellout.

26 year old Dib (32-1, 19 KOs) is one of the most exciting featherweights in the world right now, with an all action, unorthodox fighting style reminiscent of Britain's Prince Naseem Hamed. Like Hamed, Dib is a Muslim, and both his parents are from the Lebanon (Hamed's parents are Yemeni.)

Dib had a solid, amateur pedigree, winning 98 of 133 fights and three Australian National Championships before turning professional in 2004. Dib started out as a lightweight but by his fifth professional fight had trimmed down to super featherweight to win the Australian title with a second-round knockout over Jungstar Min. It wasn't until 2006 that Dib began competing as a featherweight, and in December of that year he had the first of a series of key fights in the United States.

In early 2007, Dib defeated former world title challenger Carlos Contreras and fringe contender José Gonzalez. His breakthrough victory came later that year when he outpointed future world title challenger Rogers Mtagwa, the Philadelphia-based Tanzanian, who would give Juan Manuel Lopez nightmares in his unsuccessful 2009 WBO super bantamweight title challenge.

Dib defeated Mtagwa at Madison Square Garden on the undercard of the Miguel Cotto Shane Mosley WBA welterweight title fight. Winning on such a prestigious card was excellent exposure for the young Australian, however he was less impressive in struggling to a split decision victory over Edgar Vargas in March 2008.

Dib headed back to Australia, and scored three more victories including a 12 round decision over the once beaten South African Zolani Marali.

Dib took a 21-0 record into a world title fight against Steve Luevano of the US at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey in October 2008. Dib lost a close but unanimous decision against a solid if a spectacular campaigner in Luevano. It was a disappointing setback for the talented young fighter, but he vowed to come back stronger and learn from the experience.

Between the loss to Luevano and his next world title shot Dib won ten fights, eight inside the distance. In July of this year, he got another crack at the world crown when he challenged Jorge Lacierva for the the vacant IBF featherweight title, and this time won a comfortable unanimous decision to take the championship belt.

With his crowd pleasing style and appealing personality, Dib could figure in major matchups at featherweight against the likes of WBA champ Chris John, former WBO kingpin Juan Manuel Lopez, undefeated former champ Yuriorkis Gamboa and of course, pound for pound star Nonito Donaire. Before he can dream about any of these big money bouts, he must successfully defend his title this weekend.

His opponent on Saturday night is 36-year-old Italian Alberto Servidei (31-0-2, 7 KOs), a tall, classy southpaw who is a former European featherweight champion and current Italian title holder.

Italian soccer players are renowned for playing at a high standard well into their 30's, and it would appear that Italian boxers seem to have the same longevity as their footballing contemporaries. Just as Paolo Maldini played till he was 41 and Alessandro Del Piero and Pippo Inzaghi are still playing aged 37 and 38 respectively, cruiserweight Giacobbe Fragomeni (42), welterweight Gianluca Branco (41) and light heavyweight/cruiserweight Silvio Branco (45) are still fighting – and winning – regularly, further testament to the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and Italian lifestyle.

It would therefore be unwise for Aussie fight fans to write Servidei off just because he is in his mid-thirties. The Italian looks and fights like a man in his mid-twenties, relying on smart boxing and ring generalship rather than power (just seven career KOs) to get results.

Servidei turned professional in 1999, and has hardly been the most prolific of campaigners with just 33 bouts stretched over the following 12 years. He won the Italian welterweight title in 2002, picked up the IBF Intercontinental title in 2004, and the European featherweight crown in 2007 with a decision over Yuriy Voronin of the Ukraine. He retained his European title with a controversial draw against classy Spaniard Sergio Blanco five months later, and was stripped of the title for inactivity soon after.

Since the Blanco scare, Servidei has been marking time with a string of wins over second rate opposition - plus a pair of Italian title victories against the inexperienced Davide Dieli in 2010, and the tough veteran Massimo Mora in March of this year.

It is hardly the level of competition needed to mount a serious challenge against a livewire like Billy Dib. I expect Servidei to be competitive and resilient, but that's as far as it goes. Dib is far too fast, has too much variation in his punches, hits too hard to the body, and is too ambitious for the Italian, who stated in an interview this week that if he loses on Saturday he will refocus on Europe.

That doesn't strike me as the right mindset for a fighter going into a world title shot. Dib wins this convincingly, either by unanimous decision, or by a late stoppage brought about by his crunching body shots.

Big Fight Odds: Billy Dib 1/9, Alberto Servidei 5/1 bet365