Looking ahead has screwed a ton of fighters. When a select few decided to flirt with big fights, at times, they forgot that business was supposed to be attended to. Canelo Alvarez, however, doesn’t plan on falling victim to that trend.

On May 3rd, Alvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) will leave the comforts of Las Vegas to take on William Scull in Saudi Arabia. Performing and doing well is salient for various reasons.

For starters, Alvarez wants to become a two-time undisputed super middleweight champion. Scull isn’t the most popular name around. In fact, outside of his fanbase, those in boxing circles struggle to identify him.

To a certain extent, Alvarez didn’t need to face the hulking IBF belt holder, but a matchup against him will also prevent ring rust. As long as Alvarez does what many expect him to do, he’ll jump directly into a showdown against former four-division and current WBA junior middleweight champ, Terence Crawford.

A matchup between them only became pragmatic recently. Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) continually called Alvarez out and is now willing to answer the phone. Beating someone significantly smaller than him could come with a bit of backlash but that no longer gets under his skin. When the Mexican star revisits the beatings Crawford dished out to the likes of Errol Spence Jr., Shawn Porter, and Kell Brook - his antennas go up.

The wins on Crawford’s resume are impressive but his stacked trophy case is equally as eye-catching. By and large, Crawford’s accolades are roughly on par with Alvarez's. For that reason, and a few others, Alvarez firmly believes that if they do meet up, it could be one of the biggest fights the sport of boxing has ever seen.

“Just look at how much he’s accomplished and just look at how much I accomplished,” Alvarez told ESPN’s Mike Coppinger. “So imagine two fighters with those accomplishments. It’s huge. Huge.”