Terence Crawford normally shines a light on those around him. He also, often by mistake, cast a gigantic shadow. Steven Nelson isn’t annoyed by it. He understands that standing next to one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world has pros and cons. After years of playing a secondary role, however, Nelson (20-0, 16 KOs) will have his moment in the sun.

On January 25th, at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada, the 36-year-old will take a huge step up in competition when he faces off against Diego Pacheco. The Ring’s No. 3 ranked super middleweight contender has been regal from the very beginning, rarely losing rounds. The betting public, along with countless prognosticators, are convinced that Nelson will come up short. But conjecture isn’t something that gets under his skin, even negative ones.

“I gotta show the world that I’m not nothing to play with,” said a calm and relaxed Nelson to PYP Boxing.

The opportunities haven’t been endless for Nelson. Instead, he’s frequently been forced to accept the scraps that fall from the table. Jealousy hasn’t infiltrated his thought process, nevertheless. It’s always been about patience. So even as he sat back and watched his peers receive their flowers, there wasn’t any envy but it did make him spiteful in the ring. With stoppage wins in six of his last seven appearances, Nelson is confident that he'll keep that streak going.

Pacheco, of course, has his own plans. The lanky super middleweight is ranked highly in three of the four sanctioning bodies and is hoping to land a world title shot at some point this year. When last seen, he pulled a demolition job on Maciej Sulecki, stopping him in six rounds this past August.

Nelson doesn’t have a copious amount of supporters like some of the division’s top names. But once fans get a close look at what he’s capable of in the next few weeks, he believes that will change.

“This is gonna be my debut. They gonna learn so much about Steven 'So Cold.'”