By Keith Idec

Most welterweights will give you reasons why they don’t want to fight Errol Spence Jr. next.

The former two-division champion from St. Louis “would love that fight” as soon as possible. That doesn’t mean Alexander is overlooking Victor Ortiz, just that he is fully confident he’ll beat Ortiz and put himself in position to challenge the highly regarded Spence.

Alexander (27-4, 14 KOs) and Ortiz (32-6-2, 25 KOs) are scheduled to square off Saturday night in a 12-round welterweight fight FOX will televise from the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.

Spence (23-0, 20 KOs), of DeSoto, Texas, is set to return June 16 in a bout Showtime will broadcast from an undetermined venue in the Dallas area. He could make a mandatory defense of his IBF welterweight title against Mexico’s Carlos Ocampo (22-0, 13 KOs), but Alexander would welcome that assignment if Spence decides to make an optional defense.

“The thing about it is [Spence] overwhelms people and he fights people that don’t have a game plan, and don’t stick to the game plan,” Alexander told BoxingScene.com. “Kell Brook had success early because he followed the game plan. You can’t worry about what Errol Spence does. I don’t care about what nobody does. My coach and the game plan whenever we fight whoever, our game plan is on point and never fails.

“So once I’m totally focused, nobody can beat me. The thing about Errol Spence is, I would love that fight because I don’t care who I fight. But I would love that fight and I would exploit every weakness he has.”

The 31-year-old Alexander will fight for the second time Saturday night since finishing treatment for an opioid addiction. Before that setback, the southpaw was well-known for facing the best boxers in the junior welterweight and welterweight divisions.

Alexander once fought Timothy Bradley, Lucas Matthysse, Marcos Maidana and Randall Bailey consecutively from January 2011-October 2012. He also has boxed Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Junior Witter, Juan Urango, Andriy Kotelnik and Jesus Soto Karass during his 13-year professional career.

“I always said this, even when I was 21, 22 years old,” Alexander said. “I’m a throwback fighter and I’ll fight anybody. It doesn’t matter. My ambitions are bigger than Victor Ortiz and my ambitions are bigger than this fight. Because I’m looking to get in there with the top five. I’m looking to get past this and looking at some bigger and better fights. Even though I’m totally focused on this fight, my goal is bigger and better.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.