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By Dan Ambrose: Former WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) will be taking a step up in competition this Saturday night when he faces Robert Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KOs) for the vacant WBC welterweight title at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California.

Normally, this wouldn’t be considered a step up for a fighter to be facing a fading fighter like Guerrero, but for Garcia, it has to be seen as a step up. Garcia has been fighting guys like Paulie Malignaggi and lightweight Rod Salka recently in record-padding fights.

Garcia believes that a win over Guerrero will help make him a bigger star than he is now. I’m not sure if that’s going to be the case, however. Beating the 32-year-old doesn’t translate into stardom, unfortunately. Keith Thurman recently beat Guerrero, and he’s definitely not a star yet. Fans are still waiting for Thurman to take a real test in Shawn Porter and Errol Spence.

“This is another fight that is going to make me a bigger star. Come Saturday night, I will be at my best,” Garcia said. “I always go for the knockout, but we’re ready for a war.”

.@FOXTV's newest field reporter Angel Garcia talking 1-on-1 with @DannySwift today at open workouts in LA. #TeamDSG pic.twitter.com/9z06XAA9ba

— PBC (@premierboxing) January 20, 2016

Beating Guerrero will not turn Garcia into a star, even if he knocks him out quickly on Saturday night. For Garcia to become a star, he’s going to need to stop taking the soft opponents and start facing quality fighters on a more consistent basis than he’s been doing. The last tough opponent that Garcia took where he wasn’t a favorite going into the fight was three years ago in 2013 in his fight against Lucas Matthysse.

In Garcia’s fight against Lamont Peterson last year, Garcia came into the fight as the favorite. It was a surprise then to see how Peterson was able to take command of the fight in the second half oc the contest. Garcia was very fortunate to get the decision in that fight because Peterson looked like the better fighter at the end.

“We left 140-pound as the champ and now we’re looking to do the same at 147. When you come to fight Danny Garcia for a title, you better come 100 percent ready,” said Angel Garcia, the father/trainer for Garcia.

Garcia vacated his titles at 140 just when he was on the verge of having to defend them against unbeaten Viktor Postol. A lot of boxing fans feel that Garcia would have lost badly to Postol if that fight had taken place. It’s perhaps a good thing Garcia moved up in weight when he did, because he could no longer bypass the fight with Postol. He bypassed him once to take the Peterson fight, but the WBC wasn’t just going to give Garcia career-long permission to dodge the Postol fight.

Even if Garcia beats Guerrero to win the WBC title, he’s going to eventually have a lot of problems when he has to face someone like Shawn Porter or Errol Spence. I think those are better fighters than Garcia and would likely knock him out.

If Garcia beats Guerrero, then we could see Khan face Garcia in the summer. Khan says he wants to fight for the WBC title against the winner of the Garcia vs. Guerrero fight.