AFTER resolving his issue with the size of the ring in the week leading up — during which there was even talk of him walking away from the fight — Billy Joe Saunders finally goes for glory tonight in Arlington, Texas, in front of 70,000 fans against the current pound-for-pound king, Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

If Saunders is to be believed, this is more than a unification fight — it’s a date with destiny, with the unprecedented shape he’s forged himself during a four-month training camp confirmation that he’s serious when he says he’s coming to win.

“For me this is about legacy, this ain’t about money,” he told the Telegraph’s Gareth Davies in a recent interview.

“Money comes, money goes. We all know that. Money is dust to me, money’s not everything. To win this fight, when you die this lives on for years and years and years.”

Fighting talk, no doubt. But even so, as he’s quick to acknowledge himself, he’s the clear underdog going in. However, neither that nor the fact that he’ll be stepping into a cauldron of 70,000 passionate Canelo fans when he begins his ring walk at the Dallas Cowboys’ magnificent AT&T stadium has fazed the undefeated Brit. 

“I know when I go to Texas I’ll have 70,000 Mexicans screaming. But the Gypsies are coming out in force. The English, the Irish, the Scots — you name it, they will be there.

“I’ll be flying that Gypsy flag very high for every one of them. I’m not just doing this for me and my family, I’m doing it for them as well.”

Yes, this is a fighter who wears his Gypsy-Traveller identity with pride, and is using it as added motivation for an encounter he’s lusted after for years. 

If he manages the seemingly impossible and emerges victorious against Canelo, it will be a huge upset and rank as one the best performances by a British fighter on foreign soil. 

In this regard, Saunders would more than take his place alongside the likes of Ken Buchanan, Alan Minter, Lloyd Honeyghan, Nigel Benn and his close friend and fellow Gypsy Traveller Tyson Fury.

Can he do it? Can he actually pull off what six British fighters have already tried and failed to do and make a dent in this Mexican juggernaut’s impregnable defence while avoiding being nailed by one of the most ferocious counterpunchers to ever occupy a ring?

The heart says yes but the head proclaims no.

That Saunders is a skilled and cultured pure boxer is not in doubt. When in shape he can be a joy to watch, combining wonderful footwork with excellent timing, using his southpaw stance to great effect.

But even though he’s undefeated in 30 outings, most of the opposition he’s faced in his career has been second-tier compared to the men Canelo’s dealt with over a career of 58 fights, in which his only defeat has come against Floyd Mayweather Jnr.

That defeat was back in 2013 when at 23 the Mexican star was in his relative infancy fighting at elite level. Since then Canelo has fought a dizzying roster of top opposition at multiple weights and overcome all.

In a boxing ring, though, anything can and does happen. It’s the perfect terrain for the underdog to rise and do the impossible, with legendary feats of skill, will and determination littering the sport’s history.

In order to win, Billy Joe Saunders is going to have to perform just such a feat this weekend in Texas. He will have to think faster than Canelo, get his attention with clean shots, while avoiding getting hit clean in turn. He will need to frustrate him by continually making him miss and force him out of his rhythm. 

Movement, angles and reflexes are key to Saunders’s chances, and fortunately for him he possesses all three in abundance. Less fortunate is the fact that so does Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

The last British fighter to face this Everest of a Canelo challenge was Liverpool’s highly rated Callum Smith. Last December, after only five weeks to prepare, Smith was subjected to a 12-round masterclass and emerged without his WBA super-middleweight title, having lost not only every round but almost every second of every round against the Mexican.

Saunders is a different animal from Smith. He possesses a superior ring IQ and moreover will be stepping into the ring with a full training camp behind him. He’ll be approaching his work like a man playing chess, not checkers, and he’ll relish the prospect of pitting his wits against a fighter who most face with survival rather than victory in mind.

As for Canelo and his team, they’re going in supremely confident of brushing Saunders aside with an eye on bigger game down the road. This, you might think, could be their undoing. But there’s no evidence of Canelo ever going into a fight less than completely prepared up to now.

In an in-depth interview with the Guardian’s Donald McRae, in just two short sentences the Mexican revealed a fundamental truth about the human condition that philosophers have failed to do as convincingly in entire books: “Nothing is easy in this life. Everything is difficult.”

He also talked about the perils of fame. “You start thinking this way you won’t put in the work that got you to that position,” he said. “You also start thinking your opponents are all easy but that’s not the case. I never believe what fame tells me. I believe only in hard work.”

These are not the sentiments of a man who intends allowing anyone to knock him off his perch anytime soon. The protracted preparations which Saunders and his team, headed up by trainer Mark Tibbs, have made for the task ahead is proof that they’re not banking on facing a suboptimal Canelo either.

Even so, with the magnitude of this particular task in mind, it wouldn’t hurt if Billy Joe Saunders enters the AT&T Stadium armed with some of that old Gramscian “pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will” magic on his mind.

Perhaps, also, a shotgun wouldn’t go amiss too.