One of the year’s biggest fights is on tap for Saturday night, when Felix “Tito” Trinidad (41-1, 34 KOs) faces off against Winky Wright (48-3, 25 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in a 12-round middleweight bout.

Trinidad’s good looks and smile light up an arena. There are few fighters in boxing today who have a fervent fan base, but he’s one of them. After losing to Bernard Hopkins on September 29, 2001, Felix fought once more before going into a 29-month “retirement.” Last October, he returned and faced Ricardo Mayorga at Madison Square Garden.

“It was one of the most exciting times of my life,” Trinidad recalled last month.” Just to hear the fans chanting ‘Tito, Tito,’ when I stepped into the ring. The only way I knew how to pay them back was to give them every single round and give the best performance that I could ever put together.”

He did just that, knocking out Mayorga in the eighth round of a brutal fight.

Trinidad is a great fighter; he’s exciting, and he goes in tough. His roster of opponents includes Pernell Whitaker, Oscar De La Hoya, David Reid, Fernando Vargas, and Hopkins. It’s hard to imagine Felix being in a boring fight. But he’s 32 years old now, and his face is starting to look it. The boyish enthusiasm and childlike charm are still there, but he’s not a kid anymore.

Wright, a 33-year-old southpaw who defeated Shane Mosley twice in 154-pound title fights last year, has made his way to the top as a blue-collar fighter with no glitz and no big-name promoter behind him. Now, like Hopkins, he wants to make his mark against Trinidad.

“I’m not good at stared owns, but I can fight,” Wright said at the kick-off press conference for Trinidad-Wright last month. “I may not have a knockout punch like Tito does, but I punch hard and he’s going to feel it. I’ll mess up his rhythm and take him out of what he wants to do. I close my eyes and I can see so many ways this fight may go, but every one of them ends with me winning. I don’t see how I can lose.”

Asked to elaborate, Wright declared, “I know what Tito can do. Tito’s got a lot of punches; he punches hard; and he always comes in shape. But when Tito throws punches, I’ll be throwing punches back. I hit hard enough to hurt you, and that chin of his ain’t the greatest. I’ll beat him with my jab. I’ll beat him with my defense. I’ll hurt him to the body and go upside his head. I’m definitely thinking it will go the distance, but I’m winning this fight.”

Trinidad has two weaknesses as a fighter. His aggressive puncher’s stance makes it difficult for him to implement quick defensive adjustments. And on the inside, he sometimes waits too long before punching. But no one within hailing distance of 160 pounds can stand in front of Felix and trade with him.

Moreover, Trinidad is unlikely to be bothered by Wright’s southpaw style. He has faced six southpaws in his career and beaten all of them. He’s slightly bigger than Wright, who will be coming up in weight for this bout. And, most significantly, people have been calling Winky “underrated” for so long that by now he’s a bit overrated. His resume has one hole in it. Other than a fading Shane Mosley, he has never beaten a championship-caliber fighter.

The pick here is Trinidad by decision, with Felix pressing the action in an exciting fight.

The contract calls for an immediate rematch if Wright wins. If Trinidad prevails, look for him to face the winner of the July 16 middleweight championship bout between Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor.

Trinidad-Wright will be televised by HBO Pay-Per-View. In the co-featured bout, Zab Judah (33-2, 24 KOs) makes the first defense of his unified 147-pound title against Cosme Rivera (28-7-2, 20 KOs). Rivera is the International Boxing Federation’s “mandatory” challenger, but doesn’t belong in the same ring as Judah.