Canelo Alvarez faces crossroads with Gennady Golovkin decision

— -- LAS VEGAS -- Standing atop boxing's throne, moments removed from a chilling sixth-round knockout of Amir Khan, middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez provided boxing fans with the words they longed to hear. 

"We don't f--- around," said Alvarez, through an interpreter, after gesturing toward unified titlist Gennady Golovkin, who was sitting ringside, to enter the ring. "I fear no one in this sport."

Alvarez didn't go as far as committing to a fall showdown with Golovkin, the oft-avoided middleweight destroyer who is the No. 1 contender to Alvarez's WBC title. But he didn't run from it, and now has 15 days to prove his actions are as strong as his words by making the fight against Golovkin or be stripped of his belt.

The recent (and likely short-term) retirements of Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao opened the door for a new face of the sport to emerge. Alvarez very much looked the part on Saturday night, as the 25-year-old Mexican heartthrob christened brand-new T-Mobile Arena with a gruesome one-punch knockout. 

It wasn't a fight as much as a coronation, with Alvarez headlining a pay-per-view on Cinco de Mayo weekend -- boxing's Super Bowl -- for the first time, thus completing his training as Mayweather's de facto Padawan learner-in-waiting.