A tale of two Saturdays, in the city that never sleeps, has surely set the stage for the most dramatic fisticuffs of the year.
Gennady Golovkin's knock-out performance in the mecca of boxing was preceded seven days earlier by Anthony Joshua's rocky horror show.
The two are linked by even more than this vivid contrast between triumph and disaster. Joshua's crushing upset by Andy Ruiz Jr cleared the decks of Madison Square Garden for a statement of such eloquent violence by Golovkin that it is virtually impossible for Canelo Alvarez to refuse a third fight with Triple G.
Gennady Golovkin captivated boxing fans with the knockout of Steve Rolls on Saturday night
With the heavyweight division seismically upended by Joshua's loss of all his world titles - and thereby diminished for the moment at least - the epicentre of prize-fighting in 2019 has to be Canelo-Golovkin 111 on September 14.
Tyson Fury is expected to beat Germany's Tom Schwarz in Las Vegas this coming Saturday but even so his rematch with WBC world champion Deontay Wilder cannot take place until 2020.
The trilogy fight between the two exceptional middleweights of their era has to take centre stage now.
Madison Square Garden was electrified seven days after Anthony Joshua's huge upset loss
After Golovkin pitched the gallant Steve Rolls face down into the canvas with an almighty left hook in Saturday's fourth round, Canelo's promoter Oscar De La Hoya sent him this gratuitous tweet: 'Nice comeback win. Now fight a real fighter, win a belt and I'll consider doing the third fight #Canelo'syourboss.'
That is not entirely the Golden Boy's decision to make. Far from it. This fight is now the richest in the offing and the oligarch behind the DAZN television streaming network is not paying Alvarez and Golovkin hundreds of millions of dollars between them for one to avoid the other.
And the time is ripe.
Canelo was surely watching the GGG-force return to the Kazakh he robbed of his world middleweight titles in Las Vegas. He will have heard New York's acclamation when Golovkin told the 12,000-plus crowd: 'We all know who the fans want me to fight next.'
If he
