by David P. Greisman

ARLINGTON, Texas — On Friday afternoon at AT&T Stadium, after Canelo Alvarez and Liam Smith and 20 other boxers of lesser stature had stepped on and off the scales, and after the fans had left the weigh-in inside and the fiesta outside, Sergey Kovalev and his manager strode into a sizable room set aside for media members.

They walked from one stop to the next on what was colloquially called Radio Row, conducting interviews with shows and stations that were already there to cover Smith-Alvarez. When Kovalev was done and he and his team gone, Andre Ward arrived to do the same. The next day, at the sprawling Gaylord Texan Resort, each presided over his own one-hour session with press who were ostensibly there to ask questions and take notes, though the free breakfast buffet may have helped lure some there.

Kovalev and Ward were there to take advantage of the event that Canelo’s fight was, taking advantage of the number of media outlets in one place at one time to publicize their Nov. 19 pay-per-view. It is something numerous promoters wisely do, capitalizing on a captive audience in a cost- and time-effective manner.

Their fight will be between two of the three best in their division, and two of the best boxers in the world, in an intriguing match between a boxer and a puncher. The winner arguably will deserve a spot atop the mythical pound-for-pound list.

Even if the show succeeds, it will still do a fraction of the pay-per-view sales that Canelo-Smith did. Even if it succeeds, it won’t do the kind of ticket sales and box office revenue seen for some of the most profitable matches in Las Vegas.

It’s a big fight. Big fights aren’t always big events. Nor are big events always big fights.

That’s the difference between Kovalev vs. Ward and Alvarez vs. Smith.

Kovalev and Ward are taking this fight because they want to face a difficult challenge, but also because it is far away the most lucrative option available. They are fighting each other now because there are few alternatives at light heavyweight that the network that features them, HBO, would be willing to air. There have been enough tune-ups and mismatches paid for already to deliver the fighters to this point.

Alvarez is a talented fighter who also is willing to take on challenges. Few A-side names, after all, choose to step into the ring with Erislandy Lara. But he is less susceptible to network pressure regarding who and when to fight. He is too big an attraction, an event in and of himself.

Canelo drew an announced attendance of 39,247 people to San Antonio in 2013 when he fought Austin Trout. There were a reported 31,588 people in Houston in 2015 to see Canelo take on James Kirkland. And the announced crowd for Canelo vs. Smith was 51,240.

That’s an unofficial 122,075 people in attendance for Canelo’s three fights in Texas. That’s more than some star boxers in the United States total for 10 fights, or 20, or more.

The ability to earn money on his own, no matter who he fights, is why Canelo has become an event fighter, why only one of his last four outings has been seen ahead of time as potentially competitive — his bout with then-middleweight champ Miguel Cotto on pay-per-view last November in Las Vegas. This year has brought the circus that was Alvarez taking on a chinny welterweight in Amir Khan and then the showcase against Smith, who was ranked below all of the other titleholders at junior middleweight and even several contenders.

But Canelo wanted to leave the 154-pound division — or at least the vicinity of the division, given his recent run of fights at 155 — with a world title. So Smith got the call. HBO, which wants a fight between Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin, happily took its financial slice for distributing the fight. Golovkin’s team waited, and even they understood that the anticipated date in September 2017, should a deal be made, was worth waiting for since they could make much more money with Canelo than without him.

Golovkin is a draw of his own right, on a lesser scale than Canelo but still impressive in an era when too few fighters fill arenas.

Canelo also will make more money with Golovkin than without him. Theirs would be both a big fight and a big event. But we’re now in an era when we’re told to accept waiting a year or more for the fight we want, and to swallow the changing reasons for why that is.

First, Canelo and Golovkin agreed in late 2015 to have one more fight before facing each other. Then Canelo called Golovkin to the ring after his interim bout, the Khan win. But Canelo soon ditched his world title rather than defend immediately, saying the negotiating period required by the WBC was too restrictive, and then saying that the lawsuit he and his promotional company were facing for a separate issue was their priority. They knew the negotiating period and lawsuit were coming, but had paid sanctioning fees, a sizable sum for the right to hold onto the title, for the Khan fight anyway.

Then Canelo and his team said the fight wouldn’t happen any sooner than later in 2017, that Alvarez was still a junior middleweight who needed time to move the rest of the way up to middleweight. But instead of beginning to work their way up, Alvarez instead moved down to fight at 154. Alvarez made the weight, won the fight against Smith and then said he was done in the division.

The very next fight could very well be a middleweight fight, which means that Alvarez might be ready to move up to 160 to face a lesser opponent, but not to face Golovkin. Contrast that with Roman Gonzalez, who went from 112 to taking on one of the two best fighters at 115 in his first fight there.

Alvarez’s next opponent is uncertain. One possibility is Willie Monroe, who defeated Gabriel Rosado on the pay-per-view undercard. Another is Billy Joe Saunders, the middleweight titleholder who declined an appearance on the undercard but may still be in the running, although his Oct. 29 fight is just six weeks before Alvarez wants to fight again.

It could be anyone. And it doesn’t really matter, because Alvarez is so popular, among Mexican boxing fans, among Mexican-American boxing fans, and among boxing fans in general, that he will make money anyway. HBO will still air it as part of its relationship with the fighter and the promotional company. It has invested in fighters at the expense of the fights; this year has been rife with mismatches and too few hits.

Canelo’s marketability is great for him. It’s great for his undercard boxers, who get bigger audiences than they might otherwise have. It’s potentially great for boxing in the regions where he fights if he cultivates a desire in residents to come out and buy tickets again, even if it’s for a smaller show.

He doesn’t need the Golovkin fight for the riches. He needs it for the respect.

Canelo’s three best wins were over Austin Trout, Erislandy Lara — a fortunate decision that is thanks in significant part to Lara’s strategic miscalculation — and Miguel Cotto. That is a good run, but it is not a resume that reads greatness.

At 26, at a time when he appears to have hit his stride in terms of skills and control of the ring, Canelo must continue to back up his stated desire to face anyone, but to do so without facing just anyone. He needs to take big fights instead of just big events.

It was fitting that he fought in a stadium outside of Dallas, Texas, where the state’s nickname is represented in the team’s logo. Canelo Alvarez was the lone star in the arena.

The sky is brighter, however, when there’s more than one star to look at.

Reaching for the sky can mean two things.

As an attraction, Canelo is already a superstar. But in terms of accomplishment, as much as he’s already done, there’s still much higher he must rise before he truly is stellar.

“Fighting Words” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com