Despite a surgically repaired right eye that looks deformed and skills that appear to have badly eroded since he ended a four-plus-year retirement in March, Antonio Margarito fights on.

The former welterweight titlist was once hailed as the most avoided fighter in boxing, but now he is an outcast to many for his attempt to fight Shane Mosley with loaded hands wraps in 2009. Margarito will take on Mexican countryman Ramon “Inocente” Alvarez – the younger brother of middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez — in a 10-round junior middleweight bout on Saturday night (beIN Sports and beIN Sports Espanol, 11 ET) at the Centro de Convenciones in Rosarito, Mexico.

Margarito’s right eye was badly damaged in his one-sided beating by Manny Pacquiao in a junior middleweight world title bout in 2010, causing a 13-month layoff and the need for surgery. Then Miguel Cotto turned the eye into hamburger in 2011 as he avenged a past knockout loss (one in which many suspect Margarito had loaded hand wraps) by stopping Margarito in the 10th round.

Margarito retired after losing to Cotto but made a comeback on March 5. Although he outpointed Jorge Paez Jr. in a close, competitive fight, Margarito (39-8, 27 KOs), 38, did not look good. The “Tijuana Tornado” looked more like a light breeze, slower than ever and lacking zip on his shots. The usually durable Margarito even got knocked down in the sixth round and that eye, well, it still looked like a mess.

Nonetheless, Mexican officials cleared Margarito, who spent three months training in San Diego, to fight Alvarez (23-4-2, 15 KOs).

Margarito said he was not happy with his performance against Paez, against whom he was trying to shake off the rust of the long layoff.

“I’ll be better than in the fight against Paez Jr. I was rusty after nearly five years of retirement,” Margarito said. “I’m not the young man of before, but I’ll be looser in my movements. I don’t disparage any opponent, but with all due respect, on the street when I’m asked who I’m fighting, if I say ‘Inocente Alvarez’ they don’t know who it is. But when I say ‘Canelo’s brother,’ they know. I’m going to win on (Saturday).

“We have been working on explosiveness and speed. I feel much better than in my camp before Paez Jr. I will go out to win, do my job. Neither his brother, nor all his family will be in the ring, only Ramon. We are ready for a war.”

Alvarez, 30, who is riding a 10-fight unbeaten streak (9-0 with an accidental head butt-induced no contest), including a win against Omar Chavez (son of Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.), agreed the fight would be action-packed.

“Margarito said many things and on Saturday we will be face to face,” Alvarez said. “The war begins now. I’m looking forward to the fight.”