Mexico's Miguel ''Titere'' [Puppet] Vazquez makes the third defense of his IBF lightweight title when he takes on no.1 contender Ameth ''Cloroformo'' Diaz of Panama at the Coliseo Olimpico in Guadalajara, Mexico on Saturday night. Despite his excellent record against top fighters, Vazquez is in danger of becoming the forgotten man in the 135 lb class, and has recently been overshadowed by the exploits of Juan Manuel Marquez, Brandon Rios, Robert Guerrero, Michael Katsidis, Ricky Burns, Kevin Mitchell and John Murray.

Nevertheless, Vazquez possesses talent in abundance, and could yet prove to be the dominant force in the lightweight class. On Saturday he faces a man in Ameth Diaz that despite his young age, has made more comebacks than the Spice Girls.

25-year-old Miguel Vazquez [29-3, 13 KOs] turned pro in January 2006, and lost his debut to the current darling of Mexican boxing and WBC light middleweight champion Saul Alvarez on a four round split decision. Despite this early setback, Vazquez was soon into his stride, and chalked up 12 victories before the year was out.

In 2007, Vazquez faced another rising prospect in America's Timothy Bradley for the WBC Youth World light welterweight title, and lost a 10 round decision. Bradley would upset Junior Witter for the WBC light welterweight title the following year.

Three fights later Vazquez took on Alvarez in a rematch and lost over 10 close rounds. 

Since then, Vazquez has been on a hot streak of eight straight wins, including his shock 2009 upset over a then undefeated Breidis Prescott. The heavy hitting Colombian was high in the world rankings and hot off a 54 second destruction of Britain's Amir Khan, yet save for a flash first-round knockdown, Vazquez dominated the bout with excellent defensive boxing and looked to have won decisively, though he ultimately had to be content with a split decision. 

In August 2010, Vazquez faced South Korea's Ji Hoon Kim for the vacant IBF lightweight title. Kim was fresh off a first-round blast out of Ameth Diaz - the same Ameth Diaz who Vazquez faces on Saturday night - was undefeated in four years and 13 bouts, yet Vazquez handled him with his ease, winning a landslide unanimous decision and the IBF title.

Vazquez successfully defended his crown twice in 2011, against fellow countrymen Ricardo Dominguez and Australian star Leonardo Zappavigna, winning both by one-sided unanimous decisions. His last fight was seven months ago, a two round KO over journeyman Marlon Aguilar in a non-title fight.

At 5'10" Vazquez towers over most lightweights, and is as tall as Scotland's WBO interim lightweight champion Ricky Burns, but unlike Burns and the 5'8'' Robert Guerrero who both began life in lighter weight classes, Vazquez dropped down from junior welterweight to compete at 135 lbs. Physically, Vazquez looks slighter than both Burns and Guerrero, who have added muscle weight to their frames to become lightweights.

Saturday night's opponent, 28-year-old Ameth Diaz [29-10, 21 KOs] remains a genuine threat despite his relatively poor record. The Panamanian is a boxing gunslinger who is prepared to take shots in order to land his own, and as a result he can be caught and KO'd, with seven of his 10 defeats coming inside the distance.

Diaz's first round knockout loss to Ji Hoon Kim in May 2010 was a perfect example of his shortcomings as a fighter. Few opening rounds in recent years have packed as much excitement into three  minutes as this one did, and it is well worth checking out on YouTube. 

Both men rocked each other throughout the round, and if anything it was Diaz who looked in control, until he was caught flush on the side of the head by a pair of thunderous straight right hands. Diaz went down heavily and when he got up he was out on his feet. The referee wisely called the fight off.

Diaz turned professional at just 17 back in 2000, and had a torrid first five years as a pro, losing six times and being stopped by the likes of Jaime Rangel, Fernando Angulo, Jorge Medrano and Juan Mosquero. 

In October 2005, Diaz scored a shock three round KO over fellow countrymen William Gonzales in what was something of a breakthrough victory. Big punching Colombian lightweight champion Diomedes Miranda was dispatched in two rounds the following year, a win which earned Diaz the WBC Latino lightweight title and the WBA Fedaltin belt.

In November 2007 Diaz faced Frenchman Souleymane M'baye in a WBC lightweight title eliminator on the back of six straight knockout wins. M'Baye was eight years older than Diaz at 32, and had lost his WBA light welterweight title earlier in the year to Welshman Gavin Rees, but the Frenchman proved his class by absorbing some big shots from Diaz while dominating the fight  on the way to scoring a fourth round TKO. 

It was back to the drawing board for Diaz, but after two comeback wins he faced future IBF lightweight champ Joan Guzman in a WBA eliminator, losing on points. When Diaz was kayoed in four rounds by 38 year old Japanese contender Takehiro Shimada in Tokyo in 2009, it looked like the end of the line, and the first round loss to Kim the following year only seemed to compound that. 

However Diaz wasn't quite done yet, and in October 2010, he scored a surprise 10 round decision over Mexican contender Javier Castro. He then pulled off the biggest victory of his career, traveling to Melbourne, Australia and stopping local prospect Leonardo Zappavigna in five rounds in an IBF lightweight title eliminator, a victory that earned Diaz the no.1 spot in the IBF rankings, making him the mandatory challenger for Miguel Vazquez.

Can Diaz pull off what would be a monumental upset and defeat the defending champion? The Panamanian is doggedly determined, can definitely punch, and proved against Zappavigna that's despite his numerous setbacks, he is as hungry and ambitious as ever.

The reality is that Vazquez is one of the most underrated boxers in the game today, with an excellent jab, great footwork, sound boxing skills, a tremendous defense and a solid chin, which he proved in his bout against Prescott. Vazquez not only wins this fight easily, he scores with enough straight right hands to force the referee to stop the contest by the ninth round.

Vazquez by TKO in nine.

Big Fight Odds: Miguel Vazquez 1/12, Ameth Diaz 6/1 bet365