GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. returns to fight in his hometown Saturday for the first time since May 2001 when he meets South African Phillip N'dou at the Van Andel Arena.

Mayweather Jr. (30-0, 20 KOs) will be seeking to defend his 135-pound title for the third and possibly last time. He is contemplating a move up in weight to fight two of boxing most popular stars -- Arturo Gatti and Oscar de la Hoya.

"It's always a joy to come back home and put on a show for the my fans, friends and relatives," Mayweather Jr. said. "This fight against N'dou is very important to me and as I would like to make it a night to remember for all my fans here in Grand Rapids."

In his last fight, Mayweather Jr. easily outboxed Victoriano Sosa of the Dominican Republic to retain his 135-pound belt in April.

Mayweather Jr. captured the lightweight title in a debatable decision over Jose Luis Castillo of Mexico in April 2002. Eight months later, Mayweather posted a decisive win over Castillo to retain the lightweight belt.

A two-time champion, Mayweather Jr. is 12-0 in title fights, which includes two successful title defenses in his hometown when he held the WBC 130-pound super featherweight title.

But Mayweather Jr. will be tested by the upset-minded, once-beaten N'dou.

N'dou (31-1, 30 KOs) will be taking a step up in class against Mayweather. The 26-year-old South African is currently riding a 21-fight winning streak and is ranked second by the WBC in the lightweight division.

"I've been looking forward to this for a long time," N'dou said. "I'm taking this fight with Mayweather very seriously. He's a tough champion, a good champion. It's just my time to take the title."

On the undercard, featherweight champs Derrick Gainer and Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico met to unify the WBA and IBF 126-pound titles. Gainer and Marquez were slated to meet in August, but the fight was canceled when Gainer injured a pectoral muscle in training.

Gainer (39-5, 25 KOs) has fought twice in 14 months, and in his last fight dropped Oscar Leon of Mexico twice to survive a hard fought split-decision victory to retain his WBA featherweight title in April.

Marquez (41-2, 33 KOs) captured the IBF 126-pound strap with a seventh stoppage of countryman Manuel Medina in February. In a non-title fight due to the postponement of the unification fight against Gainer, Marquez dominated late-replacement Marcos Licona of Mexico before winning via a ninth-round technical knockout.

The bouts will be on HBO beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET.