TIJUANA – Local boxer Arturo Badillo will square off Saturday night against WBA super flyweight champion Hugo Cázarez in a bullring in Mazatlán.

The fight will be nationally broadcast by Televisa as part of its boxing program starting at 8 p.m.

The match is the greatest test Badillo, 24, has faced in his four-year professional career of 21 fights.

Meanwhile, Cázarez, 33, a native of Los Mochis, will be defending his title for the fourth time since winning it in May 2010 in Japan.

On Friday, both boxers weighed in at 115 pounds, the limit for their division, according to a release from Baja Boxing, which promotes that sport in Tijuana.

"I feel good, which reflects my work at the gym," Cázarez is quoted as saying in the release. "I feel very strong and the audience will be able to see a great fight."

For his part, Badillo said he prepared very well in Temoaya, a town in the State of Mexico, and in Guanajuato and predicted he would win the world championship.

If he did, Badillo would also bring back a world championship to this border, which has not had one since Shane Mosley beat Antonio Margarito in January of 2009.

Since his earliest professional fights, Badillo has been considered one of the great prospects of Tijuana's boxing scene.

Though he lacks a great style, his strength and hard punches earned him the nickname "El Fuerte," or "Strong One" in Spanish, an image he reinforced by knocking out 18 out of 21 fighters he's faced.

"I liked boxing since I was a child and I always wanted to be a professional boxer. Now that I am one I dream of being a world champion. I know few get there and that I have to work hard to earn it and that's what I do every day," he said in an interview two years ago in his father's carpenter shop, where he also worked.

In Cázarez (34-6-2-24 knockouts), Badillo is facing a name boxer for the first time.

Both are right-handed, but Cázarez is more experienced and moves his fists faster. Moreover, he's fighting in his home state, with the support of his friends. Cázares has not only fought in more matches, but he's done so in Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States .

The Tijuana fighter, however, has the resources to win. He's taller (5-foot, 7-inches) than Cázares (5-foot, 4-inches) and is younger and stronger.

Three Tijuana boxers will also fight in Saturday's program: Juan Pablo "Cheché" López against Juan Ruiz, six rounds;

Jorge De Alba against Carlos Bacasegua, four rounds; and Raúl "Jíbaro Junior" Quirarte against Julio Law, also for four rounds.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com