Three of the four recognized world titles at 160 pounds will be at stake on Saturday when lineal champion Canelo Alvarez faces Daniel Jacobs in a much-anticipated middleweight unification bout. Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) will headline yet another Cinco de Mayo weekend card from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (9 p.m. ET, watch exclusively on DAZN), in what is the biggest boxing event of the calendar year to date. 

The winner on Saturday will have a legitimate claim to a pound for pound ranking as well as some big business ahead with another opponent recently signed by DAZN looming.

But before Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs) enters the ring to square off with Alvarez, let's take a closer look at the biggest storylines associated with the fight. 

1. Can Jacobs realistically earn a decision over Alvarez? It seems crass to publicly ask such a question considering the veiled accusations hidden beneath it. At the same time, it's hard to deny Alvarez's history of getting the benefit of the doubt on the scorecards in close fights against Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara and both meetings against Gennady Golovkin. Heck, even Alvarez's one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather in 2013 saw one judge, CJ Ross, award him an unfathomable 114-114 card that was almost as egregious as the 118-110 score given for Alvarez by Adelaide Byrd in the first GGG fight.

Both Jacobs and promoter Eddie Hearn have been asked repeatedly what they can do in advance to prevent another controversial fiasco should the fight go the distance. Hearn believes having such conversations publicly puts pressure on the judges and Nevada State Athletic Commission to make sure justice is upheld. Jacobs, meanwhile, no longer wishes to entertain the conversation at all despite knowing full well what he's up against. It's not unusual for close fights in Las Vegas to favor the "money fighter" who helps carry the financial interest of many by being on top. Let's just hope that trend can stop entering into a fight this important now that we've been open and honest about the situation.

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2. How much pressure is on Alvarez to win? Soon after he signed a 10-fight, $365 million contract last fall, it became no secret just how integral Alvarez is to the success of the all-sports streaming app DAZN in the United States. By pulling the sport's biggest pay-per-view star in North America off of the platform in favor of its monthly subscription model, DAZN will need Alvarez to take part in a series of blockbuster fights in order to attract enough paying customers to make good on its investment. DAZN will also need Alvarez to win the large majority of said fights to keep his brand strong while continuing to match himself aggressively. Up to this point, Alvarez has been on board in keeping up his end of the bargain in response to the latter despite the guaranteed money that led him to DAZN in the first place. 

3. On paper, Jacobs could be Alvarez's toughest challenge: They say in boxing that styles make fights and it's hard to handicap Saturday's showdown without realizing that Jacobs' style may be all kinds of wrong for Alvarez. Given his impressive resume, Alvarez has certainly faced slick boxers (Trout, Lara, Mayweather), big punchers (Golovkin) and opponents decidedly bigger than him (Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Rocky Fielding). But he has never faced it all in the same package before like he'll see from Jacobs, who was successful in causing Golovkin problems in a disputed 2017 loss when he switched stances throughout and mixed power with speed. Jacobs is an incredible athlete with a legitimate knockout punch to boot. He also owns an inspiring backstory which saw him overcome a rare bone cancer that nearly took his life. Considering Alvarez is a somewhat small middleweight to begin with and doesn't possess elite foot speed, the determined Jacobs is very much a legitimate threat to take down Alvarez's middleweight empire. 

4. But what about that rehydration clause? In a move that Jacobs called "insulting," Alvarez leveraged his advantages as the A-side fighter by insisting on a 170-pound rehydration clause that Jacobs ultimately agreed to. Considering Jacobs is an imposingly large middleweight who will hold three-inch advantages in heigh and reach, the clause is designed to potentially leave him weight drained entering the fight. Should Jacobs weigh in over the rehydration limit during the second-day weigh in at 8 a.m. of fight day, he'll be fined $500,000 per pound that he's over. Because Jacobs has such a hard cut to 160 pounds, he gave up the right to fight for the IBF title he now holds two years ago when he challenged Golovkin in order to avoid dealing with the IBF-mandated, next-day weight clause. While the IBF has waived the clause for unification bouts like Saturday, Alvarez made a strategic negotiating decision that has the potential to compromise Jacobs' stamina and strength.

5. A fall showdown of major proportions awaits the winner: From the standpoint of what's at stake, the prize of three of four recognized middleweight titles (along with the designation of being lineal champion) is certainly a big one. The winner will also be able to make a fairly strong claim among the pound-for-pound best in the sport. But from the standpoint of advancing on to an even bigger fight, it's no secret that Alvarez will likely be headed towards a trilogy bout with former champion Gennady Golovkin should he defeat Jacobs. GGG was a sought-after broadcast free agent until DAZN finally got the Kazakh slugger to put the pen to paper for a multi-year deal. A third Canelo-GGG fight could also go down as the biggest in 2019 considering their first two bouts, despite controversial decisions in both, were instant classics and fight-of-the-year contenders. For Jacobs, a win of any kind over Alvarez likely leads to an instantaneous rematch that would be even bigger than Saturday's fight.