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There isn't much that frightens Joan Guzman. There aren't too many situations that make him uncomfortable.

It's the result of growing up poor in one of the worst neighborhoods in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Guzman's poverty was so stark that he'd leave his house when it rained and camp outside because he stood a better chance of staying dry under a tree than under his leaky roof.

The neighborhood he was raised in was so dangerous that by the time he was 9, he was carrying a knife for protection. And it hasn't gotten any safer. One of Guzman's former opponents, Agapito Sanchez, was shot to death in 2005 after a dispute with an off-duty police officer.

"My life has been very difficult," Guzman said during an interview ahead of his fight with Humberto Soto in November 2007. "All of the bad things that happened to me growing up, I take them into the ring with me when I fight."

Guzman will need everything he can call upon when he steps into the ring against Nate Campbell, the WBO, WBA and IBF lightweight champion, in Biloxi, Miss., on Saturday in a 12-round title match that will be broadcast on Showtime.

Guzman, a former super bantamweight and super featherweight world champion, will be moving up to the 135-pound division, following in the footsteps of Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. But it might be a bigger step for Guzman than it was for Pacquiao, who defeated David Diaz for the WBC lightweight title in June, and Marquez, who will take on Joel Casamayor in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Al Bernstein, the Showtime boxing analyst who will call the fight with partner Steve Albert, is intrigued by Guzman.

"He's an interesting fighter because he does so many things wrong, but he's able to overcome them because he's so fast and he's such a good athlete," said Bernstein, who drew a comparison between Guzman and Roy Jones.

Bernstein said it will be interesting to see how Campbell handles Guzman's fast hands and quick feet and counters those wide punches that come from far away.

Guzman used to be known as "Little Tyson" because of a slight resemblance to the original "Iron Mike" and because of his propensity to starch opponents. But Guzman's power did not travel with him when he moved up from the junior featherweight division to junior lightweight. He hasn't stopped an opponent since he scored a seventh-round TKO against Agapito Sanchez in 2004.

If Guzman can't muster significant sting in his punches, he won't have any way to keep Campbell (32-5-2, 25 KOs) from steamrolling over him.

"First of all, people have to realize, I'm the puncher in this fight. I'm the bigger man in this fight. I'm physically stronger," Campbell said. "I'm going to do what I do. He has to do what he does and we'll see how it turns out."

Facing a naturally bigger man is a daunting task for any fighter, but the undefeated 32-year-old Guzman, who now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., is nothing if not a survivor.

He was 9 years old when his father abandoned his family, leaving him, his mother, brothers and sisters to fend for themselves.

Eventually Guzman tracked down his father. He went to live with him briefly without telling his mother. Guzman said they had differences, and soon he was living on the street and taking care of himself.

It wasn't long before he developed a reputation as a fierce street fighter and he caught the eye of an amateur trainer who was involved with the Dominican Olympic team.

As an amateur, Guzman compiled a 310-10 record and won a gold medal in the 1996 Pan American Games. He made the 1996 Dominican Olympic boxing team as a flyweight, but lost in the early rounds at the Atlanta Games.

Guzman turned pro right after the Olympics and his second fight was at Madison Square Garden on the undercard of featherweight showdown between Prince Naseem Hamed and Kevin Kelley on Dec. 19, 1998. During that time, he reconciled with his father, who is now his trainer.

Guzman (28-0, 17 KOs) has faced decent opposition in his career, stopping Sanchez, and taking decisions against Javier Jauregui, Jorge Barrios and Humberto Soto in his last match on Nov. 17. But Campbell will represent his stiffest challenge to date.

The fight against Campbell was not one that Guzman went searching for.

"I moved up to 135 pounds because my previous fight I was supposed to have in May against Alex Arthur fell through at 130 pounds," he said. "The WBO gave me the option to vacate the 130-pound belt and become the No. 1 contender at 135. That was a chance I couldn't really pass up. It made sense for me and my team to move up in weight and fight Nate Campbell."

Guzman doesn't believe he will have any problems moving up in weight.

"It's no different than it was when I was fighting at 125 pounds than it is now," Guzman said.

Guzman instituted a new strength and conditioning program with a new coach, David Burr. Guzman believes it will give him the needed power without diminishing his quickness.

"A few of the things we concentrated on were power training and plyometric training, where we used a lot of resistance and a lot of mountain running. We used weights in ways I've never experienced before," he said. "We've done a lot of new techniques that I hadn't really used but I was aware of. It definitely makes me a lot stronger and a lot quicker."

Guzman expects to bring all that strength training and conditioning work, along with his hard-scrabbled experiences from Santo Domingo into the ring with him on Saturday. Will it be enough?

"Nate is going to be a tough customer," Guzman said. "He's going to be a challenge because I'm stepping up in weight. He's the bigger of [us] two, so we've been working extremely hard.

"We have the quickness on our side. We also have our great defense on our side as well. We're going to give him a hell of a fight."

Tim Smith is the boxing columnist for the New York Daily News.