Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has been a professional fighter for nearly two decades now, and has been on the global stage for more than half that time. When Alvarez – the unified super middleweight champion and oft-described “face of boxing” – took his seat on the dais at Radio City Music Hall in New York for Thursday’s press conference teasing his May 3 date with William Scull, there was nothing to be learned of the man that fight fans didn’t already know.

That doesn’t mean, however, that the fight and all that surrounds it will be old hat for Alvarez. In fact, the unification bout with Scull, who holds the only other major super middleweight belt available, represents Canelo’s first sojourn outside Mexico or the United States.

On Cinco de Mayo weekend, Alvarez – the premier Mexican superstar in a sport buoyed by outsized Mexican influence – will eschew his usual haunts of Las Vegas, Dallas, San Antonio and various stages around Mexico to fly halfway across the world to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to defend against Cuba’s Scull in what figures to be a desolate venue in a country that has thus far been no more than lukewarm to boxing.

It’s all part of a larger plan – and an enormously lucrative contract – with Saudi Arabia power broker Turki Alalshikh to showcase the best of boxing to a different side of the world, among other agendas, but that was hardly news. Yet there was a related thread that also happened to the most interesting subplot at Thursday’s presser: How will Alvarez, 34, handle fighting away from his “homes” – Mexico and the United States – for the first time?

“I feel great. That motivates myself, fighting in another country. I feel great about it. This fight is very important to me. I never take nothing easy.

“I’m gonna prepare myself and put on a good show in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. And for my uncle” – and here Canelo giggled just slightly – “Turki Alalshikh, thank you.”

On the verge of extending his career into the second half of his thirties, Alvarez, 62-2-2 (39 KOs), figures to be more selective than ever about the time, place and opponent of his remaining fights. And at first glance, Scull, 23-0 (9 KOs), looks like a placeholder – a stay-busy foe designed to keep Canelo sharp but well-preserved for a September fight with Terence Crawford. Or Dmitry Bivol. Or David Benavidez. As usual, Alvarez kept fans and media guessing about his long-term plans at Thursday’s event.

But one wonders if the unusual aspects and environment of the event – embedded in a foreign country and culture, operating many time zones away from North America’s clocks, the opening bell for the main event set to ring in the early-morning hours in Saudi Arabia – could be just enough to throw off a somewhat diminished version of Alvarez against Scull, himself a tricky, undefeated fighter.

“Listen, I’ve fought in different foreign countries already,” Scull said through a translator. “This is nothing new to me.”

Alvarez admitted to being “excited” about the experience of fighting in Riyadh, saying he has always wanted to fight in locales beyond his backyard.

“You know what, it’s going to be a new experience for me, that’s for sure,” he said, this time through a translator. “But I’m also sure that the whole world is Canelo territory. So as they say in Mexico, ‘Just wait for me. You’ll see me.’”

Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at LinkedIn and followed on X and Bluesky.