It was approaching midnight on May 6, 2023 at Estadio Akron on the western outskirts of Guadalajara, Mexico, when John Ryder said what many had been thinking.

The Londoner, a staggering outsider with the bookmakers, had just completed 12 rounds against Canelo Alvarez. He had been dropped in the fifth round before eventually losing widely on all three cards in his unsuccessful bid for the undisputed super middleweight championship.

His broken nose, taped and still dripping with blood, told the story of the fight in many ways as he faced the media that night in Jalisco. Even so, his over-riding opinion struck a chord with many.

“I just still think he’s past his best,” Ryder said. “He couldn’t get me out of there. His plan was to stop me, but he didn’t.”

While this ultimately routine defence for Alvarez does not define his 67-fight career, nor does it stand out as particularly important in the scheme of things, it was the third fight in a row he had failed to find a stoppage. Since that night, the run has extended to seven outings that have all gone the distance despite large periods of control.

His last stoppage, in November 2021, came against Caleb Plant and was his third inside-distance win on the trot following explosive victories against Avni Yildirim and Billy Joe Saunders. But things are not like they used to be.

The question now, is: Where exactly does Alvarez stand among the other greats who still operate at the very top level? When he beat Plant he became undisputed super middleweight champion and, in the eyes of most, was quite clearly the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.

But approaching four years on, the achievements of Oleksandr Usyk, Naoya Inoue and, incidentally, Terence Crawford, have pushed him down the rankings given his inability to dispatch opponents like he used to.

He is ranked at No. 8 in The Ring’s pound-for-pound listings and, given his previous lofty positioning, that could be considered languishing. Yes, he has dominated opponents, winning wide against Ryder, Jermell Charlo, Jaime Munguia and Edgar Berlanga but such clear victories without the ability to finish the job have suggested that he is on the slide.

And why wouldn’t he be? At 35, with 20 years as a pro come October, it is without question that Alvarez is past his memorable peak. But what does that mean for September 13, when he faces Crawford in what has been described by Alvarez's commercial manager Richard Schaefer as a fight bigger than Mayweather-Pacquiao?

Interestingly, Schaefer made that claim an hour or so after Alvarez's most recent fight, the tedious 12-round victory over William Scull, which drew more criticism than perhaps any other fight in his illustrious and storied career.

Almost exactly two years to the day since his win against Ryder, the Mexican had once again huffed and puffed but nobody had been blown away. In fact, he and Scull infamously combined to set a new CompuBox record for throwing the fewest amount of punches in a 12-round fight. Over the course of the company’s 40-year history, no two fighters had conspired to throw as little as they did, with just 445 shots between them.

But what was most staggering about that stat is Scull was responsible for 293 with Alvarez therefore behind just 152 of his own. He would point out that it mattered little, with all three judges awarding him the victory. In fact, one of the judges, Danrex Tapdasan had him a huge 119-109 winner given his dominance, without really throwing, across the 12 rounds.

Scull, of course, came under fire himself for choosing pick-and-poke tactics in the biggest fight of his life. Instead of actually attempting to win, he seemed more interested in staying out of trouble, moving his feet and completing the distance. His slick, Cuban style ensured he did exactly that but he never looked close to winning.

Some would argue, however, that in such a scenario, the onus should be on the reigning champion to track down the runner, put him in his place, let his hands go and knock him out. "It was a boring fight," Alvarez said afterwards. “A fighter not trying to win and just trying to survive. I hate those kind of fighters".

Scull’s attempt to get through 12 rounds like that, they would suggest, should be punishable by violent knockout. The Alvarez of old would have done it. But at ANB Arena in the early morning of May 4 he just could not track him down, and when he did he only ever threw in ones and twos.

There are always mitigating factors, of course, and no two fights are the same. Scull, let’s not forget, was 23-0 and is a clearly capable operator. He is also, perhaps crucially, a career super middleweight —

unlike Alvarez and unlike Crawford.

But Crawford, a truly generational talent who could survive in any era, will have absolutely no trouble navigating his way through 12 rounds against that version of Alvarez. Not once did the Mexican deliver any moments of crisis for Scull. If Crawford receives the same treatment not only will he run away with it on the cards but he will almost certainly find a stoppage that will send a shockwave through boxing history given the context of this fight.

If Crawford, who won his first world title at lightweight no fewer than 33 pounds below the super middleweight limit, can beat Alvarez to become undisputed at 168 he goes down as one of the very best of all time. Equally, victory inside the distance would be one of the single greatest wins in history.

Now it is up to Alvarez to find his last stand to prove the pedestrian victory over Scull was little more than a blip and that no junior middleweight, all-time great or not, can ever hang with him. It is also his chance to prove Ryder and everyone else wrong.