Miguel Vazquez has an opportunity to prove this weekend he is the best lightweight in the world.
The Mexican says he is “unstoppable” at the weight. "I believe I am the best lightweight champion in the world," Vazquez said this week. "My defeats were to the best fighters in the world in higher weight classes.
Vazquez will defend his IBF lightweight title against countryman Marvin Quintero on a card at a Native American reservation casino near Verona, New York, on Saturday night.
He has a professional record of 31-3, with 13 knockouts and has won ten fights in a row since 2008, when he suffered the second of two losses to unbeaten Mexican light-middlewight Saul Alvarez.
His only other loss was in 2007 at the hands of still unbeaten Tim Bradley, who beat Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao in a controversial decision last June to claim a portion of the world welterweight title.
Quintero, who will enter the ring at 25-3, with 21 knockouts, hopes to disprove the idea that Vazquez is the best. It will be his first world title fight.
He has won nine of his past ten fights, all on early stoppages, and has not been the distance, win or lose, since May of 2009.
His longest fight was his most recent, in which he stopped Filipino southpaw Al Sabaupan in the ninth round last April to make him the mandatory challenger for 25-year-old Quintero.
