Based on how easily promotion turns into hyperbole, it’s understandable that many believe huge fights are commonplace. “Fight of the Century” has definitely been used more than one time in the last 100 years, for example.

The truth is that while great fights happen all the time and big fights are necessary to propel the sport forward, real superfights are rare. Boxing fans know what they feel like, though. At first it doesn’t quite seem real, until the fight is some countable number of days away, and then the slow, unique march to the big fight begins.

One month out from the super middleweight showdown between Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford on Netflix Sept. 13 in Las Vegas, that familiar anticipation is beginning to swell.

The proliferation of streaming apps and digitization means boxing is without a more conventional platform, and at times it’s felt rudderless in the last few years. But one of the things that consistently brings fans together and unites the masses, whether through fascination or even contempt, is a big fight.

Canelo-Crawford is the biggest possible fight boxing can offer below heavyweight, which is no light qualifier. Four of the top 10 highest-grossing fights were at heavyweight, and the rest mostly involved Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Even approaching that level means the fighters involved are massive stars, and there’s no question that Alvarez and Crawford are two of the sport’s biggest and best operators.

In 2010, Alvarez (63-2-2 (39 KO), rested in the lower end of The Ring’s top 10 ratings at junior middleweight. He entered The Ring’s Pound for Pound ratings three years later, and since then he’s faced a who’s who of fighters from 154 pounds to 168. Alvarez can afford to choose who he fights and when, yet his ledger is still one of the deepest of recent eras.

Though junior middleweight and super middleweight are a mere 14 pounds apart, few fighters have managed to navigate the rough middleweight waters between them. Alvarez’s ability to do so harkens back to “Sugar” Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, who both did the same. And like them, Alvarez did one better and captured a light heavyweight title.

The novelty of some junior divisions and updated rules mean the accomplishments of many contemporary fighters simply don’t compare to other eras where boxing seemed like a different sport entirely. Holding titles in three divisions simultaneously such as Henry Armstrong, for instance, isn’t feasible these days. But the feats of Leonard and Hearns still go back 40 years.

Alvarez is 35 and he’s been a professional for 20 years. He’s neck-deep in the game and approaching the age where a fighter either picks up new tricks or gets out, and an age where any success is commendable. It also means he’s achieved consistency at an elite level for longer than some fighters’ entire careers last. If it weren’t for what figures to be a significant size advantage, Alvarez might be an easier favorite to defeat the man ahead of him.

“Bud” Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) has arrived at this huge moment via a more recognizable path.

Whereas Alvarez burst onto the scene with the help of a reputation as an oddity, Crawford navigated the U.S. amateur system from the time he was a young kid. Like countless fighters before him, the boxing gym distracted him from the chaos of his surroundings. Crawford set himself apart and excelled, eventually becoming a National PAL champion and defeating several future pro world champions.

Crawford fought his way to a 19-0 as a pro, biding his time while fighting on undercards and waiting for a big opportunity. Finally one came against Colombian junior welterweight banger Breidis Prescott on only one week’s notice, one division up from where Crawford campaigned. Crawford made the most of the chance by completely dismantling Prescott on the undercard of the rematch between Mike Alvarado and Brandio Ríos, and he never looked back.

The win over Prescott positioned Crawford to fight for a minor title, which led to a lightweight world title shot against Ricky Burns in 2014. All of Crawford’s fights since then have involved a world title, and he unified the junior welterweight and welterweight titles. On paper, his fate appeared to lead him toward seizing the welterweight star mantle from Manny Pacquiao, but he was promotionally steered away from stardom and once again had to make his own way.

Crawford’s rivalry with Errol Spence, Jr. finally gave him a mainstream nemesis, who he promptly destroyed. Ironically the crushing victory elevated him to an unapproachable level at welterweight, leaving him nowhere to go but up. His only fight in the last two years, a win over Israil Madrimov, won him a junior middleweight title and made him a four-division world champion.

It’s a career trajectory not unlike another of the Four Kings of the 1980s, Roberto Durán. The Panamanian legend went from lightweight champion to winning a middleweight title over the course of 10 years. Durán even skipped junior welterweight to take on Leonard in their incredible first clash, and Crawford is similarly skipping middleweight to tackle the bigger star in Crawford.

And like Durán when he took on Iran Barkley, Crawford is 37 and being overlooked.

Canelo-Crawford wasn’t on many radars before it was announced, yet it’s a fight that blends star power and stylistic intrigue. It’s rare indeed that a pair of top-tier pound-for-pound fighters are close enough in weight to actually fight, and rarer when they’re close enough to their respective primes that the fight is actually meaningful.

This is a case of destiny sneaking up on everyone, perhaps the fighters most of all.

In other sports, there’s always the next game, or next week, maybe the next season. That potential for finality in boxing means there is no guaranteed second chance to get it right. Every step in the careers of Alvarez and Crawford leads to now. The procession to Canelo-Crawford has begun.