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Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez will face Terence Crawford in a Las Vegas super-fight in September after outpointing William Scull to regain the undisputed super-middleweight title.
Scull danced around for 12 rounds and frustrated Alvarez with potshots, as the Mexican superstar struggled to cut off the ring in a dull contest in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ultimately, Alvarez's power punches to the body won him the bout with scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 119-109.
"It was a boring fight. A fighter not trying to win and just trying to survive. I hate those kind of fighters," Alvarez, 34, said.
Crawford entered the ring post-fight and two of the sport's biggest names posed for a face-off.
They will meet at the 65,000-seater Allegiant Stadium on 12 September.
Crawford, 37, is a four-division and two-weight undisputed champion but will be moving up from light-middleweight.
"Everything happens for a reason and there's a reason why I'm here. In September I'll show the world what greatness looks like," he said.
Fighting outside of Mexico or America for the first time as a professional, Alvarez made his ring walk at the unusually early 06:20 local time to cater for audiences back home.
As he often does, Alvarez started slowly to feel out his opponent. He landed right and left hooks to the body in the second round and Scull sneaked an uppercut through Alvarez's guard in the third.
But Alvarez was unable to apply any real pressure and was being made to miss by 32-year-old Cuban Scull's movement.
Scull walked back to the corner smiling after the seventh, as if he felt he was on course for the upset.
With little action happening inside the ring, the cameras panned to a bored-looking Crawford at ringside.
"Let's fight, there's too much running around," British referee Kieran McCann told both fighters before the ninth.
Visibly annoyed with his opponent's approach, Alvarez shook his head as he walked back to his corner after the 10th.
Scull complained about low blows, most of which were legitimate punches, and Alvarez was warned for punching when his opponent had his back turned in the 11th.
The closer scorecards reflected how neither fighter asserted their dominance in the tedious contest.
"He came just to survive until the 12th round," Alvarez said after his 63rd career win.
"I hope September will be another kind of fight."
Alvarez was stripped of the IBF belt instead of facing Scull last year but once again becomes the king of the super-middleweight division.
He said it would be a "pleasure" to defend all four recognised world titles against Crawford.
"Crawford is one of the best out there and I like to share with that kind of fighter," Alvarez said.
Crawford is the reigning WBA light-middleweight champion and has won all 41 pro bouts but is likely to be a slight underdog because of his weight disadvantage.
He described the blockbuster against Alvarez as the "biggest fight of the past decade".
While it has the potential to break box office and gate receipt records, some boxing purists feel Alvarez has ducked the hard-hitting David Benavidez, an unbeaten American fighter with Mexican heritage who has 24 stoppages in 30 wins and is nicknamed 'The Mexican Monster'.
