By Cliff Rold

Argentina’s 29-year old Brian Castano (15-0, 11 KO) fell short of the Olympic dreams he had as an amateur. In the United States, he’s largely an unknown commodity. That will change for the viewing audience Saturday (9 PM EST) when he steps into the main event spotlight on Showtime.

While many US fans might be seeing him for the first time, several notable professionals know him from days gone by.

While he didn’t make it to the 2012 Games, Castano as an amateur had wins over two men who did compete there, Errol Spence and 2012 middleweight silver medalist Esquiva Falcao. Competing in the World Series of Boxing, he handed 2008 Olympian and future middleweight title challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko his only loss in four seasons of WSOB competition.

Since turning professional in 2012, Castano hasn’t lost and while his activity has been spotty, we know that he hasn’t been afraid to travel. After winning his first eight fights at home, Castano has competed four times in the States and twice in France. The first of his French forays brought him the best win of his career to date, an entertaining split decision over the well-regarded Michael Soro in his first defense of an interim WBA belt at 154 lbs.

Since then, he’s been ‘elevated’ to the WBA’s secondary title in the class behind unified super champion Jarrett Hurd. Hurd also holds the IBF belt. In other words, the title Castano is fighting for this weekend doesn’t mean much in terms merit but that doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not he can fight.

For Castano, the greatest unknown is how well he fights against one of the most proven forces in the division. This weekend, Castano has a chance to not only get a wider audience to know him but prove he’s someone fans should want to know even more about.

35-year old Cuban Erislandy Lara likely would have competed at the Olympic Games in 2008. Then the reigning World Amateur champion, he elected instead to defect in 2007 and pursue dreams of his own making. Lara weaved his way through early professional success before some turbulence in 2011, escaping with a debated draw against Carlos Molina and losing a decision to Paul Williams so controversial that all three judges were suspended.

He’s lost only twice since. He won the interim WBA belt at Jr. middleweight from against Alfredo Angulo in 2013, was elevated to their secondary title in 2014, and became the WBA’s fully recognized champion when Floyd Mayweather retired.

We know he can be dropped and get up. He did it twice in the win over Angulo and last year in defeat in the Boxing Writers Association Fight of the Year against Hurd. There are some who thought he deserved the nod against Saul Alvarez in a 2014 non-title fight but Lara was forced to settle for a split decision defeat.

We know that Lara is as cerebral as they get in the squared circle, often content to pick opponents apart at distance one or two shots at a time while using his feet to control the dimensions of a contest. We also know that when forced to battle, he has plenty of heart to go with his mind.

What we don’t know about Lara is where he is after the grueling war with Hurd. At 35, and with a year out of the ring, is he refreshed or ready to be finished? Is Castano too young and hungry for Lara at this stage or is Lara still too slick, too experienced for the Argentine?

The right combination of known and unknown can make a big difference in how much viewers get out of a fight. Going in, it’s all guesswork. This looks like a potentially appealing mix of ingredients. The best fans can ask for from week to week in this high volume content era is that the main events of the bigger shows carry uncertainty. This fight has that. It’s one where the less known fighter has a real chance to win and the veteran has something to fight for.

Theoretically, the WBA’s secondary champion and super champion are supposed to meet on occasion. It doesn’t always happen. Politics and money can sometimes make it all too easy for one of the most criticized sanctioning bodies to just collect all the extra fees fighters and their teams are willing to fork over.

In this case, there could be a realistic destination. Hurd-Lara II would be an easy sell. If Castano can defeat Lara, he becomes a viable foe for Hurd or other parts of the Showtime Jr. middleweight lineup like WBC titlist Tony Harrison, Jermall Charlo, and Julian Williams.

We don’t know who is going to win this weekend and we don’t know what the winner will do next, but we know they’ll have options in one of boxing’s most entertaining current weight classes. That’s plenty for fans to look forward to for now.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com