LAS VEGAS – Frank Martin has slowly but surely caught the attention of hardcore boxing fans.

Several of the southpaw’s developmental fights have been broadcast by FOX or Showtime. He also has benefited from a promotional push by undefeated, unified welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr., whose company represents the unbeaten lightweight.

The 27-year-old Martin is confident, though, that Saturday night will be when the boxing public becomes aware of just how good he can be.

Indianapolis’ Martin (16-0, 12 KOs) will face the toughest opponent of his five-year pro career, Dominican contender Michel Rivera (24-0, 14 KOs), in a 12-round, 135-pound WBA elimination match. Their fight will headline Showtime’s three-bout broadcast from The Chelsea, a venue inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (10 p.m. ET; 7 p.m. PT).

“I just feel like this was an opportunity to get me to the bigger fights,” Martin said. “He’s good. He can box. He’s an overall balanced fighter. He’s good at some things. There’s some things he’s not too good at. But I just feel that I’m ready for him. I’m ready to just show everybody what I’ve got in my arsenal because there’s so much I haven’t displayed or really showed yet. So, I’m just ready.”

Martin, who was raised in Detroit and Fort Wayne, Indiana, didn’t set foot in a boxing gym until he was 18. His mom wouldn’t allow him to try boxing when he was a kid, thus Martin gravitated toward football and wrestling.

After 58 amateur fights, he made his pro debut in October 2017. He is trained in Dallas by Derrick James, who also works with Spence, the IBF/WBA/WBC welterweight champion, and fully unified 154-pound champ Jermell Charlo.

Martin’s most recent performance, a 10th-round technical knockout of Dominican contender Jackson Marinez, showed glimpses of his potential. He dropped Marinez (20-3, 8 KOs) once in the ninth round and again in the 10th round, but Martin wasn’t especially pleased with how he fought July 9 in a bout Showtime aired from Alamodome in San Antonio.

“That performance right there, you know, it was a short-notice fight,” Martin said. “I didn’t really have time to game plan for him. We worked a couple days, but when your weight’s low and all of that stuff, a lot of things don’t stick with you. That fight, it showed me like when it get hard and you can’t figure something out, or you’re uncomfortable in there, you just gotta bite down and get the job done. There’s some things I did in that fight, some shots that I got hit with, that I’ll be prepared for in this fight, that I won’t get hit with. I went back and looked at that fight and critiqued all my flaws for this fight.”

Martin expressed respect for Rivera, but he reiterated that Rivera hasn’t seen him at his best. The humble Martin, whom Caesars Sportsbook lists as a 2-1 favorite, thinks Rivera could bring those attributes out of him during their high-stakes fight.

“It’s a lot of stuff that I can do that I haven’t really showed,” Martin said. “I can fight flashy. I can fight fundamentally sound. I can do a lot of different things. I got a lot of tricks that I haven’t had to really bring out. I’ve really been staying disciplined as a fighter and just getting my fights done by being disciplined. Basic, hands up, stuff like that, but it’s so much that I can pull out my bag of tricks. I just haven’t had to do it yet.”

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