By Jim Dower: Former three time world champion Erik “El Terrible” Morales (51-7, 35 KO’s) is matched tough this coming Saturday night in a fight against rising unbeaten contender Pablo Cesar Cano (22-0-1, 17 KO’s) for the vacant WBC light welterweight title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Morales, 35, will be attempting to capture a 4th world title in facing the young 21-year-old power puncher Cano. Besides the belt that’s on the line, Morales stands to gain a lot with a victory on Saturday because he’s got some bit potential fights on the horizon, such as Amir Khan and Marcos Maidana.

While Cano does have good power his hand speed and defense need a lot of work. He didn’t impress all that much in his fight a year ago against Oscar Leon in a 10 split decision win. I had Leon winning that fight, as he took advantage of Cano’s slow hand speed and poor defense to land a lot of shots. Although it was close at the end, I still saw Leon as the better fighter.

Cano, ranked #12 WBC, is a replacement opponent for Lucas Matthysse who pulled out of the fight due to a lingering viral infection that got in the way of Matthysse’s training. With the other contenders ranked ahead of Cano busy with fights, Cano got the call. However, he’s still good enough to beat Morales because of his power and youth. Morales isn’t the same fighter he once was and even a fringe contender like Cano is a real threat to him at this point in his career.