The best fight all year could be the one that no one in the mainstream sports media even knows is happening. Title unification, knockout specialist puncher against slick southpaw boxer. This fight matters, and this fight is great for boxing.

I’m talking about the super-flyweight unification bout on Saturday between Christian Mijares (36-3-2, 15 KOs) and Vic Darchinyan (30-1-1, 24 KOs), airing on Showtime. Mijares is the WBC and WBA title holder and top ranked Ring Magazine fighter, while Darchinyan is the former 112-pound king, and now 115-pound IBF champ and ranked fourth by Ring. This is just the third unification bout at the 115-pound limit in the division’s history.

Mijares is a southpaw that can flat out box. He’ll make you miss, he’ll counter-punch, and he’ll hit you hard enough to bust you up. Don’t be fooled by his two recent wins by split-decision, as it is widely believed that the scorecards he didn’t win in those fights were among two of the worst scorecards ever submitted by a boxing judge (and that’s saying something). Mijares’ biggest win came 18 months ago when he embarrassed and dominated Jorge Arce to a bloody unanimous decision. Arce was the favorite in that fight and possibly headed for a showdown with Darchinyan before getting pummelled by Mijares.

Darchinyan, meanwhile, was dominating the flyweight division, knocking out pretty much everyone you put him in the ring with. The problem fighters had with Vic was that they all thought they could trade with him. Darchinyan seemed indestructible, a true power puncher in a division where that couldn’t exist.

Then came Nonito Donaire, brother of previous Darchinyan victim Glenn Donaire. Last July, as a 7-to-1 underdog, Donaire came in and started outboxing Darchinyan, picking him apart with counterpunches, while avoiding the devastating left hand. Then, halfway through the fifth round, Donaire landed a perfect punch that knocked Darchinyan out, and shattered his undefeated legend. It was a brutal knockout, one in which Darchinyan denied having been knocked out or hurt for several minutes after the fight, even through the post fight interview. Reality eventually set in, and Darchinyan moved on.

Darchinyan has now moved up in weight, and won two of three since moving up. His lone blemish at 115 was a very controversial draw against Z Gorres, a fight that to nearly all observers, Darchinyan won comfortably.

For each fighter, this may be their biggest test.

The closest thing to Mijares that Darchinyan has faced was Donaire, who outboxed him, then knocked Darchinyan out.

The closest thing to Darchinyan that Mijares has faced was Jorge Arce, who received a beating of epic proportions.

I do think that Darchinyan is slightly better than Arce, but I also think that Mijares is better than Donaire.

Darchinyan has said that he plans on boxing more in this fight, being disciplined, and not just looking to land one monster left hand. If he does this, I think it could be interesting, but I don’t have faith that Darchinyan can suddenly become a quality boxer, and abandon his slugger mentality.

I think that over the course of 12 rounds, Mijares dominates the fight when it’s a boxing match. But he must avoid the left hand of Darchinyan.

Don’t be surprised if this fight looks eerily similar to last weekend’s bout between Lucian Bute and Librado Andrade, with one fighter dominating all aspects of the fight on the scorecard, but the bigger puncher continues to come forward, eventually hurting the boxer. The only difference is no one in the world has the chin Andrade did, and if Darchinyan takes a similar beating, he will fall down.

I think Mijares controls this fight start to finish, but Darchinyan will have some moments. He may even hurt Mijares, but I don’t think he’ll be able to finish him off. Expect Mijares to have a wide lead on points, possibly hurting and stopping Darchinyan late. More than likely, though, Mijares just cruises to a decision victory.

Prediction: Mijares unanimous decision.

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