LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez has been a professional boxer for almost 17 years.

The Mexican superstar is still just 31 years old, in his physical prime, yet he’ll get paid to fight for the 61st time Saturday night. If he defeats Dmitry Bivol in their 12-round, 175-pound title fight at T-Mobile Arena, the Guadalajara native will become a two-time light heavyweight champion, five divisions above the weight class in which a 15-year-old Alvarez made his pro debut in October 2005.

The four-division champion hardly seems bored by boxing, though. In fact, Alvarez indicated during a group interview Wednesday at MGM Grand that he can envision fighting into his late 30s.

“I want to fight all my life, but maybe six, seven years,” Alvarez said. “I don’t know – maybe.”

Alvarez, who will turn 32 on July 18, would like to try to become boxing’s first fully unified light heavyweight champion of the four-belt era if he conquers Russia’s Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs). That would require him to fight the winner of the title unification bout between Artur Beterbiev (17-0, 17 KOs), who owns the IBF and WBC belts, and WBO champ Joe Smith Jr. (28-3, 22 KOs) on June 18 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York.

If he were to accomplish that feat, Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) would become the first boxer to be an undisputed champion in two weight classes. Terence Crawford (38-0, 29 KOs), the WBO welterweight champ, could earn that distinction before Alvarez gets the chance if Crawford defeats Errol Spence Jr., the IBF/WBA/WBC champ, in a title unification fight that likely will be finalized for later this year.

Nevertheless, Alvarez’s passion for boxing hasn’t subsided, even after all these years of rigorous training camps.

“I love boxing,” Alvarez said. “I love what I do. Boxing is part of my life, part of my routine every day.”

If Alvarez’s vocation is a laborious chore for him, he hides it well. Earning enormous sums of money obviously motivates him as well, but he has already attained generational wealth.

“This kind of fight [against Bivol] motivates myself to work and I love boxing,” Alvarez said during a recent conference call. “This is what I love. This is part of my life. It’s not, ‘Oh, I need to go to the gym because I’m gonna fight.’ No, this is part of my life. I train every day, no matter what.”

If Alvarez beats Bivol, he’ll drop back down to the super middleweight division to defend his IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO 168-pound crowns against Gennadiy Golovkin (42-1-1, 36 KOs) in their long-discussed third fight September 17 at a venue to be determined. He is listed by most sportsbooks as nearly a 5-1 favorite over Bivol in their DAZN pay-per-view main event ($59.99 for subscribers; $79.99 for non-subscribers).

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