The wheels were already in motion for Sheeraz to face Alvarez in February, only for the 35-year-old legend’s September defeat to Terence Crawford to slam the brakes on those plans. Alvarez needed surgery to address a problem with his left elbow and he is not expected to return to the ring until September 12, almost a year to the day from his unanimous points loss to Crawford.

Since then, the all-time great from Omaha, Nebraska has retired from the sport and therefore relinquished The Ring, IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO belts he won via his victory at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) is preparing to face Germany’s Alem Begic (29-0-1, 23 KOs) for the unclaimed WBO strap. The pair will meet on the undercard of The Ring event headlined by Oleksandr Usyk’s world title defense against kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven on May 23.

The 26-year-old Englishman hopes a victory over Begic at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt will be the first step on the path back toward Canelo.

“I must admit it would be nice to get Canelo still,” Sheeraz told The Ring. “And obviously it would be far more lucrative if I do win the world title before that. I am sure his plan is to try and become undisputed again so, God willing, I become world champion on May 23, I’ll be in the way of him becoming undisputed. Maybe we will end up fighting for all the belts after all. I feel like that fight can definitely flourish in the future.”

Crawford’s victory over Alvarez and subsequent retirement blew the entire division wide open. The Ring title is currently vacant. Alvarez (63-3-2, 39 KOs) remains the No. 1 contender, seven spots above the eighth-ranked Sheeraz.

Alongside the vacant WBO title, a different champion holds the title for each of the three other sanctioning bodies. Osleys Iglesias (IBF), Armando Resendiz (WBA) and Christian Mbili (WBC) are the other champions.

“Even if I can’t get Canelo, the 168-pound division is booming now,” Sheeraz said. “There are lots of name, lots of champions and in an ideal world, I’d like to pick up this belt and then go for a unification straight away. I’d like to try and do that as fast as I can. From a boxer’s perspective, it’s easy to go from one unification to the next, but the reality is it’s much more complicated to make these fights. But, God willing, I can get my hands on the first one and then just go from there. I can only control what I do.”

For Sheeraz, that meant heading back to Dublin at the start of April to kick off his latest camp under Andy Lee.

This time around, he has been working alongside two of the gym’s other stars in Ben Whittaker and Paddy Donovan. The former took care of business by stopping Braian Suarez inside a round Saturday night in Liverpool, while the latter is scheduled to fight Karen Chukhadzhian in an IBF welterweight elimination match eight days before Sheeraz takes on Begic.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been part of a camp with other teammates, where we have all been working together like this,” Sheeraz said. “It has been myself, Ben and Paddy Donovan as well, all gearing up for fights. We’ve been training at the same time the last few weeks, working together, working the bag together. I’ve been watching them both spar and it’s good because I like to think that I’m a student of the game.

“So, when I’m watching these guys, [Whittaker is] an Olympic silver medalist at the end of the day. So, there’s a lot to learn from him. So, when I watch him spar, I’m watching his foot placement. I’m watching how he does certain things. And he’s just a good energy to be around as well.”