Cristian Mijares continues fighting in the hopes of one day challenging for a world title. At 35 years of age, a loss would derail the former 115-pound titleholder’s aspirations.

Mijares (54-8-2, 26 knockouts) fights unbeaten Shohei Kawashima on Saturday at the Palenque Vicente Fernandez in his hometown of Gomez Palacios, Durango, Mexico. The 12-round bout will air live on Televisa throughout Mexico.

Mijares made his mark in boxing while holding the WBC junior bantamweight title, successfully defending the belt seven times.

The talented southpaw boxer currently campaigns as a featherweight, where he is ranked No. 4 by the WBC.

In his last bout on June 4, Mijares won a 12-round majority decision over Andres Gutierrez. Mijares has won his last five bouts since a one-sided decision loss to Leo Santa Cruz in March 2014.

The fight Saturday will be a homecoming of sorts for Mijares as it will be the first time in over five years he will be fighting in his home state of Durango.

Kawashima (14-0-2, 3 KOs) has not fought anyone with the experience of Mijares. Most of Kawashima’s bouts were fought at the junior featherweight limit.

Kawashima, who will be fighting outside of Japan for the first time, has won his last eight bouts in a row.

Welterweight Javier Prieto (27-9-2, 20 KOs) will face Ivan Alvarez (23-7, 16 KOs) in a 10-round bout.

Two-time world minimumweight titleholder Francisco Rodriguez (19-4-1, 12 KOs) squares off against Crison Omayao (20-12-3, 7 KOs) in an eight-round flyweight bout.

Promociones Del Pueblo will promote the card.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing