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Miguel Vazquez and Mickey Bey ready for Saturday world title fight

Two world title fights will feature on the Mayweather-Maidana undercard on Saturday, with Miguel Vazquez defending his IBF lightweight belt against Mickey Bey in one of them.

Esther Lin/SHOWTIME

Miguel Vazquez and Mickey Bey square off this Saturday night on the Mayweather-Maidana 2 undercard, with The Money Team's Bey looking to win his first world title, which he'll have to take off of Vazquez, who will defend the IBF lightweight title.

Guadalajara's Vazquez (34-3, 13 KO) expects to have Mexican fans behind him on fight night, which he hopes will give him an extra edge.

"I'm very happy and excited to be on such a big important card and I'm ready to get the win," said the 27-year-old titleholder. "I'm the champion and this is my night. I'm here to win and they will have to take it from me. I don't care who I fight, I'm going to win. I'm motivated because I know all the Mexicans are here to support me and it's going to be a great fight."

Vazquez has not been noted for exciting fights, and that was something that Bey (20-1-1, 10 KO) brought up at Tuesday's arrivals in Las Vegas, saying that Vazquez's wins have not been impressive.

"I just need to do what I've been doing in the gym," said Bey. "If I fight the way I've been looking in the gym, then Miguel Vazquez won't have a chance against me. Honestly, I think I'm better than him at everything. He's a smart good fighter but he can't match anything that I can do. He has experience, but none of his wins have been impressive. I have more speed, power and defense."

Boxing fans may feel this is the pot calling the kettle black, more or less, as Bey is similar to Vazquez in not producing action fights, as he's a boxer first and a fighter only when he has to be. And if Vazquez's record of opposition is suspect, then Bey's downright lousy.

But Bey believes in his skills, and believes in the preparation he's had with Floyd Mayweather Sr.

"The preparation for this fight has been night and day different than from my loss [against John Molina]," he said. "The stuff that Floyd Mayweather Sr. had me doing was crazy. Floyd Sr. has trained plenty of champions and comes from the Ray Robinson and Joe Louis school of training.

"Training for a championship fight is different than training for any fight I've had in the past. You have everything at your disposal, including numerous sparring partners. I probably sparred with eight different fighters for this camp."

The 31-year-old Cleveland native says, like most fighters do, that he's looking at this fight first, but after, it will be on to the next one.

"I take each fight one at a time, that's how boxing is. Even once this huge fight is over, I'm focusing on my next fight the following day. Boxing is fight to fight and you must be focused for every opponent; each fighter is its own experience."

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