Saul ''Canelo'' Alvarez defends his WBC light middleweight title against the hard punching Puerto Rican Kermit Cintron, himself a former IBF welterweight champion, at the Monumental Plaza de Toros in Mexico City on Saturday night. Alvarez is the current darling of Mexican boxing with a colossal Latino following both in his home country and in the United States, and has little problem packing out stadiums on both sides of the border. In Cintron he faces a man who may not be the force he once was, but is a skillful boxer who still hits hard enough to be a genuine threat to Alvarez's unbeaten record.

It is becoming increasingly apparent to fight fans that Saul Alvarez is the jewel in Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions crown: the heir apparent to Oscar himself, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao as the fighter destined to be a huge box office draw for many years to come. Still just 21 years old, Alvarez (38-0-1, 28 KOs) has crammed forty fights into a six year pro career and this will be the third defense of the title he won in March of this year with a 12 round decision over Britain's Matthew Hatton.

Similar to the way, Bill Cayton and Mike Jacobs kept the young Mike Tyson fighting almost every month on his rise to the heavyweight title, Golden Boy have kept Alvarez busy. Just three months after winning the title, he was in action in is first title defense, stopping WBC no.1 contender Sheffield's Ryan Rhodes in the 12th round. Three months later he stopped game but outgunned fellow Mexican Alfonso Gomez in six rounds. Saturday's defense against Cintron will be his fourth title fight of the year and fifth title defense in just five months, unheard of in modern boxing.

De La Hoya was recently quoted as saying that Alvarez ''looks like an Irishman, acts like an American, but fights like a Mexican'' and he may be right. The pale skinned, red haired ''Canelo'' (Mexican for cinnamon) certainly doesn't look like the standard black haired, dark skinned Mexican warrior, nor is his polite, unassuming and friendly manner on a par with the more surly, macho antics displayed by Mexican fighters over the years. 

In the ring Canelo looks to be that rare commodity of a fighter who has everything. Here is a kid who can box like a dream when he wants to, yet slug with the best of them when he has to. Alvarez displays blazing hand speed with a natural ability to hit hard to the head and to the body. If his defense is a little lax occasionally, he has the natural reflexes to avoid taking head shots. When his chin has been tested, so far it has looked solid.

Already Alvarez has been linked with the biggest names in boxing from welterweight to middleweight. Without doubt fights against the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito, Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr would all beguaranteed big box office matchups that would generate enormous revenue. Mexico is a country of 113 million people, and Alvarez is already a god to them, potentially bigger than their all-time boxing idol Julio Cesar Chavez Senior. Having a star of this magnitude in a country as big as Mexico equates to huge additional PPV revenue. 

A fight between Alvarez and Chavez Jr, who won impressively last weekend by stopping a game but outclassed Peter Manfredo Jr in six rounds would be box office dynamite. Where once Canelo would have been a huge favorite, Chavez Jr has improved enormously under the tutelage of master trainer Freddie Roach, and has looked impressive in victories over John Duddy, Billy Lyell, in his WBC middleweight title winning performance over Sebastian Zbik and now against Manfredo Junior. At 6' and weighing around 180 lbs on fight night, Chavez Jr would have a significant size advantage over the 5'9" Canelo, who has only just moved up from welterweight to 154 pounds in the last year. Nevertheless, Alvarez would be favorite to beat Chavez Jr if the two were to meet in early 2012.

For now at least, Canelo must remain fully focused on the job at hand – defeating Kermit Cintron on Saturday night.

32-year-old Cintron (33-4-1, 28 KOs) is an 11 year veteran who turned professional in 2000 and quickly established a reputation as a devastating puncher. By the time he challenged Antonio Margarito for the WBO welterweight title in April 2005, Cintron had cut a path through the welterweight division's fringe contenders and was 24-0 with 22 KOs.

Despite his undoubted power, Cintron soon discovered that Antonio Margarito was made of sterner stuff than any of his prior opponents; in fact few men in recent boxing history have been as tough as the Mexican warrior, who despite a career full of controversy has an uncanny ability to walk through punches that would fell most human beings.

No matter what Cintron hit Margarito with, the Mexican just kept coming, and in the fourth round he began landing with his own ponderous yet powerful punches. Scything hooks sent Cintron to the canvas twice, and in the fifth after hitting the deck once again, the referee stopped the fight on instruction from the Puerto Rican's corner. 

The likeable Cintron, who made his way from Puerto Rico to the US aged eight, and who's parents both died when he was a child, bounced back strongly from the Margarito defeat, knocking out tough Jason Estrada in ten rounds in an IBF eliminator in April 2006, then halting Mark Suarez in five rounds six months later to win the vacant IBF welterweight title. 

After two successful title defenses, Cintron took on old foe Margarito in a rematch in April 2004. This time Cintron did better against the Mexican destroyer – but only just – going down on a 6th round TKO thanks to some vicious body shots. 

Since the second loss to Margarito, Cintron has struggled to find any kind of consistency in his career. He outpointed Lovemore Ndou, drew with current pound-for-pound no.3 Sergio Martinez (controversially – Martinez should have won via a 7th round knockout) and outpointed the murderous punching Alfredo ''El Perro'' Angulo, but lost a 4 round TD to Paul Williams in 2010 after tumbling out of the ring, and was outpointed by top-ten contender Carlos Molina this July. 

Cintron won a decision over Antwone Smith in August, though he sustained a cut eye late in the fight. Now comes what could be his last roll of the dice against Alvarez. 

On paper, it looks an almost impossible task for Cintron, but he proved against Angulo two years ago he is capable of boxing cagily for twelve rounds. His only stoppage losses were against Margarito – a proven puncher (with or without plaster-of-Paris inserts), and although he took some heavy shots, he was not beaten up in either fight. If he is indeed in outstanding shape - as he is claiming to be - Cintron could be the toughest test so far for a young fighter who is yet to face an opponent who can truly threaten him. 

While Cintron certainly can bang, he is yet to stop a marquee opponent, and has only scored one inside the distance win in the last four years – a 5th round TKO over journeyman Juliano Ramos in 2009. 

If Cintron elects to try and slug with Canelo, he will leave himself open to the Mexican's rapid counters - especially to the body - and will be TKO'd by the middle rounds. If he elects to box, he can use his advantages in height and reach to keep the fight at a distance and make things difficult for the champion. I believe Cintron will employ the latter strategy, and Alvarez will have to fight at a different level than he is used to. Nevertheless, Alvarez takes this one on a surprisingly tight decision that might not even be unanimous.

Alvarez by majority decision.  

Big Fight Odds: Saul Alvarez 1/8, Kermit Cintron 5/1 bet365