By Keith Idec

Based on their histories, Victor Ortiz is supposed to be the superior puncher in his fight against Devon Alexander.

Nevertheless, Alexander expects Ortiz to be surprised by his power. That often happens, according to Alexander, and he doesn’t expect their scheduled 12-round welterweight fight Saturday night to be any different.

“People are surprised when they get in the ring with me by how powerful I am,” Alexander told BoxingScene.com. “I’ve got power, too, and people underestimate my power a lot. So I like to surprise people with that. When I’m on point, when I’m totally focused and my power’s there and my speed and my quickness are there, it’s gonna be hard to beat me.”

The 31-year-old Ortiz (32-6-2, 25 KOs) has lost by knockout or technical knockout five times during his career.

Andre Berto beat him by fourth-round knockout in their April 2016 rematch in Carson, California. Ortiz previously lost three straight bouts by knockout or technical knockout to Floyd Mayweather Jr., Josesito Lopez and Luis Collazo.

Alexander has stopped only one of his past 11 opponents and has just a 45-percent knockout ratio in 31 professional fights. The former two-division champion from St. Louis still is confident he become the sixth fighter to stop Ortiz when they meet in a main event at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas (FOX; 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).

“A lot of people are surprised by my power,” Alexander said. “That’s why I’m able to knock them down or stop them. So hopefully, he’s taking my power and my speed lightly and he’ll come in there all reckless, thinking he can overpower me. Then he’ll be in for a rude surprise.”

The 31-year-old Alexander (27-4, 14 KOs) has never been knocked out. He considers his chin and his mental strength to be significant advantages over Ortiz.

“I think he still has the desire to try to be one of the best at welterweight,” Alexander said. “But I’m the wrong guy to try to do that with because my ambitions are bigger than Victor Ortiz.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.