By Francisco Salazar

Featherweight Carlos Ornelas is aware of the history of world titleholders from the Tijuana area. He hopes to add his name to that impressive list of pugilists.

Ornelas will face Jetro Pabustan of the Philippines Saturday night at the Auditorio Municipal in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The 10 round bout will air on beIN Sports en Espanol in the United States (11 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT).

The 23-year-old Ornelas (20-0, 11 knockouts) took up boxing as a child, moving to Tijuana to pursue the sport. Ornelas hopes to follow in the footsteps of those who became world titleholders before him, including Erik Morales, Antonio Margarito, Luis Nery, and most recently, Jaime Munguia.

In his last bout on May 19, the southpaw Ornelas dominated veteran Juan Jimenez in route to a fourth round knockout victory.

Ornelas' most notable victory occurred on Oct. 14, when he won a close eight round unanimous decision over former world junior bantamweight titleholder Juan Carlos Sanchez, Jr.

Pabustan (29-5-6, 9 KOs) was stopped by Hiroaki Teshigawara in his last bout on Oct. 12. He has split his last two bouts.

Pabustan's challenged then-WBA bantamweight titleholder Panya Uthok (aka Phuengliang Sor Singyu) in February of 2016, losing by technical decision.

In the co-feature, former strawweight world titleholder Mario Rodriguez (23-15-5, 15 knockouts) will square off against Elwin Soto (8-1, 6 KOs) in a 10 round flyweight bout.

Flyweight Sulem Urbina (6-0, 1 KO) will face Lesley Rodriguez (2-3-1) in a six round bout.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for krikya360.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing