Before Oscar De La Hoya and Bernard Hopkins can fight each other in September, they first must defeat the men that will be standing in front of them this Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

This being 31-year-old De La Hoya's first fight since his "controversial" decision loss to Shane Mosley last September, the "Golden Boy" wants to test the middleweight waters and guage how he performs at 160 pounds before taking on the always dangerous and highly skilled Hopkins. And the man he chose to do it against is 24-year-old Felix Sturm, a German with a 20-0 (9) record and the WBO middlweight belt.

Although not the Felix fight fans would have wanted to see Oscar fight, it will be interesting to see how well De La Hoya performs at 160. Although he looked bloated in his rematch with Mosley at 154, he performed well but seemed to tire in the championship rounds as Mosley's bodyshots began to take their toll. But will the 5'11" Oscar fill out nicely at 160? Will his hand speed be compromised? Does hand speed even play a factor against Bernard Hopkins? And how will he perform against Sturm?

Will he be aggressive and try to knock him out early, sending a message to middlweight champ Hopkins? Or will he simply mail in his performance, doing just enough to beat Sturm without letting Hopkins get any insight into his A-game? De La Hoya, to his credit, is not one to undertrain and take any of his opponents lightly. And though Sturm's KO record isn't exactly intimidating, De La Hoya will want to get in some rounds and do some work, as he did in the Campas fight before the rematch with Mosley.

The undefeated Sturm said that it would be "charming" to fight his idol, De La Hoya (Hmm, you think there's a slight chance that he'll show Oscar a little too much respect?) Look for De La Hoya to be all business as he dismantles the German within six rounds and takes his meaningless WBO trinket.

Prediction: De La Hoya KO 5.

All Bernard Hopkins has to do to secure his chance at destroying Oscar De La Hoya is beat a man he's already beaten before, 35-year-old Robert Allen. Their first match was ruled a no-contest when Hopkins injured his ankle after accidentally being pushed out of the ring by the referee. Six months later, "The Executioner" KO'd Allen in 7.

Hopkins hasn't lost in eleven years, when he was decisioned in 1993 by some guy named Roy Jones. And he isn't about to blow his chance at a megafight with De La Hoya against a contender like Allen. Technically, Allen poses a bigger threat to the 39-year-old Hopkins then Sturm does to De La Hoya, so don't expect the champ to do anything to jeapordize his multi-million dollar paycheque in September. What you can expect is vintage Hopkins, cautiously and systematically breaking down Allen and getting him out of there in the last round, making his record 18th successful title defence and salivating at the opportunity to make De La Hoya his 19th.

Prediction: Hopkins TKO 12.

On the undercard of the De La Hoya/ Hopkins co-feature is a fight that promises to be far more competitive than the main events- Jose Luis Castillo vs. Juan Lazcano, the two warriors who will be fighting for The Ring's lightweight championship. Lazcano definitely has the momentum going in, fresh off his 11th round knockout defeat of Stevie Johnston last year, but I like Castillo. The gritty, hard-nosed Mexican gave Floyd Mayweather all he could handle, and his record of 49-6-1 (45) boasts a staggering KO rate. Lazcano, 33-2-1 (25), hasn't lost in his last 19 fights, but his bout with Johnston was too close for comfort. I want to say that Castillo, who has the better chin, will wear down Lazcano with bodyshots and knock him out within 10 rounds, but a gut feeling tells me that Castillo will lose a decision he probably deserves to win.

Predicition: Lazcano by close decision