What Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya left out in their previous machismo-packed statements about Gennady Golovkin and making the best fights possible was their focus on a vision.

“I had a plan for Canelo this year to have him fight in the biggest arena in the West Coast [Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena], the biggest stadium in the U.S. [AT&T Stadium, among the NFL’s largest] and then possibly in New York in December,” De La Hoya said Wednesday. “That’s something no other fighter has ever done.

“That vision to broaden his fan base is critical, because next year is going to be a huge year for the sport and for Canelo.”

Mexico’s 26-year-old Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 knockouts) stood against the backdrop of the 100,000-capacity home of the Dallas Cowboys — a venue where only Manny Pacquiao has headlined two fight cards — and said he recognizes the patience for what his promoter, a 10-time world champion, is crafting.


“I appreciate what he does for me. I’m focused on being the best, making history,” Alvarez said, with 35,000 tickets sold and a large walk-up crowd expected.

A week after Golovkin (36-0, 33 KOs) scored a fifth-round technical knockout of England’s Kell Brook to heighten the anticipation for a showdown with Alvarez that De La Hoya promises to deliver one year from this weekend, Alvarez said, “What we’re doing … that’s how we make great fights — with time, building excitement.”

Alvarez, a former two-division world champion, is heavily favored to do his part Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view when he challenges England’s Liam Smith (23-0-1, 13 KOs) for the World Boxing Organization junior-middleweight title.

And after viewing Golovkin’s victory — in which two judges awarded Brook three of the four rounds before Golovkin fractured his orbital bone with a fifth-round punch — Alvarez issued more verbal salvos to whet the appetite for the showdown.


“I always knew who he is, what he was. Always,” Alvarez said. “The world portrays him as this knockout king because he’s knocked out … who? Who has he knocked out? Nobody. The world got to see a little bit of what I know, what I always saw. They got to see that. I’m confident in the fighter I am and I have nothing to worry about.”

De La Hoya, in a conversation with The Times before Alvarez made his remarks, said he also took heart from what they saw welterweight champion Brook do to three-belt middleweight champion Golovkin, who has 23 consecutive knockouts and 17 straight middleweight-title victories.

“Golovkin looked vulnerable against the first real fighter who can move. We see things in Golovkin that are going to be exposed when they fight and it’s not going to be pretty,” De La Hoya said. “That’ll happen when Canelo fills into his body at 160 [pounds] and that’s going to be this year, probably.”

For all the heat Alvarez has taken for summoning Golovkin into the ring after Alvarez’s May 7 knockout of Amir Khan and strongly indicating they’d fight next, only to relinquish his World Boxing Council belt days later, De La Hoya maintains they were simply sticking to the plan.


Why take a WBC-mandated 55-45 purse split for a Golovkin bout this weekend when other opportunities exist between now and then, and it’s likely Alvarez will earn a bigger piece of a larger purse next year?

Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions, listed several possible Dec. 10 opponents for Alvarez should he emerge victorious and healthy Saturday night.

Those fighters — WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders, former middleweight champion David Lemieux, Curtis Stevens and Saturday’s Gabriel Rosado-Willie Monroe winner — are all 160-pounders.


De La Hoya said the December bout will probably be a non-pay-per-view card to maintain the audience-building agenda.

“There are no apologies I have to make,” De La Hoya said about not making the best fight possible. “This is the best fight possible at 154 because that’s what Canelo’s body is asking him to fight at.”

Golden Boy matchmaker Robert Diaz said these fights are effectively preparing Alvarez for Golovkin.

“Khan had speed. Smith is going to come and ask, ‘Can you take my power? Let’s go. Will for will,’” Diaz said. “We know Golovkin will box and be aggressive, so every one of these fights helps, because Golovkin is not one-dimensional.”


Said De La Hoya: “At 160, Canelo will fight the best. I’m living up to what I said, and this is turning out to be an amazing event. Canelo brings exciting fights, and when Canelo and Golovkin happens, I can’t imagine it not filling up this kind of stadium.”

lance.pugmire@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimespugmire