Has boxing found its newest superstar?

On Saturday night, 40-year-old Bernard Hopkins (46-2-1, 32 KOs) puts his undisputed middleweight championship on the line against Jermain Taylor (23-0, 17 KOs). Hopkins is a superb fighter who has not lost since coming out on the short end of a unanimous decision against Roy Jones in 1993. But Taylor is considered by many to be the heir apparent in the middleweight division.

The powers that be in boxing will be watching Hopkins-Taylor closely. Larry Merchant of HBO (which is televising the fight on pay-per-view) recently declared, “This is the most important fight of the year in terms of creating a new star to fill the void that exists as Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones, Felix Trinidad, and Oscar De La Hoya near the end of their respective careers.”

Should Taylor beat Hopkins, he would be an ideal standard-bearer for the sweet science. He is good-looking, unfailingly polite, and a nice man.

“In the amateurs, I was ignored most of the time because I come from Arkansas,” he reminisced last month. “I was skipped over a lot when boxers were chosen for teams that went to tournaments because Arkansas is small and doesn’t have much boxing. Then I started winning national tournaments and it was like, ‘Wow! Look at Jermain.’ “

Taylor won the National Golden Gloves at 156 pounds in 1998 and 1999 and was a 156-pound bronze-medalist at the 2000 Olympics. He’s now 26 years old and ranked among the top four middleweights in the world by each of the world sanctioning organizations. If there’s a knock against him, it’s that he has yet to face a top opponent in the pros. But he has beaten everyone who has been put in front of him.

“I’m ready,” Taylor said when the experience issue was raised at the kickoff press conference. “I’ve been boxing since I was 12, and I’ve been a professional for four years. I fought the guys I needed to fight. How much experience do I need? It’s time to put up or shut up. Either I’m good or I’m not.”

“If you let Hopkins set the pace of a fight, he’ll pick you apart,” Taylor continued. “But I’m not gonna let him do it. I’m going to go in there and work for 12 rounds. The jab sets up everything. I control the pace of fights with my jab. And I can adapt. If you want to box, I’ll box. If you want to brawl, I’ll brawl.”

Still, there are things that a fighter can’t prepare for in the gym. Taylor has never encountered real trouble in the ring as a pro. And at some point during the fight, no matter how it evolves, he’ll have trouble with Hopkins. Either Bernard will neutralize his jab, slice open his eyelid with a punch or illegal elbow, go low with his blows, or simply out-tough him.

Last week, Hopkins warned his foe, “I’ve been here 20 times. I know the sound of, ‘This is for the undisputed middleweight championship of the world.’ There’s 15,000 people in the arena screaming. You’re not in Little Rock, Arkansas. You’re not fighting a 5-8, 5-9 small guy who you can bully. This is a different ballgame, dude.”

Taylor is aware of the risks. He also knows that beating Hopkins would give him instant validation in the public mind as an elite fighter. And he has confidence in his ability as the younger, stronger, faster fighter. “I wish Bernard was 30,” he said after the fight was signed. “Because I’d beat him then, too.”

Still, when the bell for round one sounds in Las Vegas, one can imagine the voices that will be echoing in Jermain Taylor’s head: “I’m in the ring with a great fighter. Now is the time to find out if I’m a great fighter, too.”