Ranked No. 8 by The Ring, Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) is deep into preparations to fight unheralded Alem Begic (29-0-1, 23 KOs) for the vacant WBO super middleweight title.

During his appearance on the latest edition of "Inside the Ring," Sheeraz said that should he beat the 39-year-old German, he would like the chance to challenge Alvarez, who remains atop The Ring’s divisional ranking’s despite losing a unanimous decision and his undisputed title to Terence Crawford in September.

“It's a bit of an interesting one. You could say he is because of what he's done. At the same time, you've got these young guns coming through, like myself,” Sheeraz said when asked if Alvarez should remain No. 1.

“I think it's time for him to give us the opportunity against him to prove ourselves and take over that number one spot. We're all gunning for it and, hopefully, I do get an opportunity one day.”

Sheeraz’s fight with Begic will take place in the shadows of the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt on May 23. The Ring heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, will defend his WBC heavyweight title against Dutch kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven in the main event of the Ring-promoted event.

It will be Sheeraz’s second attempt at claiming a world title.

In February 2025 he appeared fortunate to escape with a draw after a battle with WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames. The experience persuaded the 6-foot-3 Sheeraz to abandon the 160-pound division.

In July, the 26-year-old from Ilford made a spectacular super middleweight debut when he stopped Edgar Berlanga in the fifth round of the main event of Ring III in New York.

Comfortable at his new weight and happy working under trainer Andy Lee, himself a former WBO middleweight champion, Sheeraz’s ears pricked up when Adames recently spoke about making the move up to 168. He would welcome a rematch with the Dominican.

“Listen, a hundred million percent, a hundred million percent,” he said. “It'd be lovely to kind of get my get back and to show who I really am. ...

“It'd be amazing and I feel like in the next few fights or a few years, that's something that's definitely, definitely going to happen.”