When Floyd Mayweather Jnr enters the ring for his rematch against Argentina’s Marcus Maidana at the MGM Grand this weekend, it is interesting to speculate if he will take a second to reflect on a career that has seen him rise from the poverty of Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the point where he has amassed more wealth than Crassus.

His undeniable and prodigious skills when it comes to squared circle is reflected in the outstanding feat of 46 fights with no defeats and no draws, garnered over the course of a career that began in 1996 at the less than salubrious venue of Texas Station Casino in Las Vegas against Roberto Apodaca of Mexico in a four rounder, which Mayweather won by TKO.

To watch him in the build up to this his 47th fight against an opponent who has tested him more than any other has for a long time, it would be easy to make the mistake of thinking that Mayweather’s application to boxing currently lies somewhere between lax and relaxed. 

In the documentary series All Access aired in the run-up to the fight by Showtime, the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet comes over as a cross between Hugh Hefner and Snoop Doggy Dog. 

Swaggering around his Vegas mansion in the company of a coterie of young ladies and various other hangers-on, when not out in one of his large collection of luxury cars, he is the embodiment of ostentation and excess — a veritable poster boy for the American dream in its most vulgar aspects.

But with Mayweather — who has himself somewhere between Moses and Jesus in the divinity stakes — the image he presents to the world belies a fierce, near demonic dedication to a craft he has come as close to perfecting as any fighter who has laced up the gloves. 

In shape year round, his work rate in the gym is known to be legendary, involving long punishing sparring sessions and the kind of conditioning regimen that to witness would bring tears to your eyes.

In his last fight Mayweather was forced to weather the storm over the first few rounds as Maidana set about sending him home in pieces. 

That he did weather the storm in the face of the Argentinian’s relentless assault, during which he threw everything except the ring post at him, was more proof that Mayweather possesses more minerals than we see on the bling he likes to covers himself in outside the ring.

Even though Maidana succeeded where others had not in actually winning a few rounds against Mayweather, the result was not in doubt by the middle rounds, when normal service was resumed and the 37-year-old asserted his superior skillset to claim another victory.

This time round it is hard to imagine the pound-for-pound champ will allow Maidana to tee off on him anything like he did in their previous contest. 

Rather than lie on the ropes looking to counterpunch and risk being smothered by the whirling dervish aggression of an opponent who throws more punches in a single round than most fighters do in three, look for him keeping to the centre of the ring where he can use his footwork to keep out of Maidana’s range and pick his shots. 

Maidana’s trainer, former world champion Robert Garcia whose reputation in the corner has grown rapidly over the past few years, will no doubt instil into his fighter the need to replicate the tactics of the first fight, only this time maintaining the intensity of his performance for the full 12 rounds. 

This will require the Argentinian to be in the best shape he has ever been in. 

According to Garcia, his fighter is exactly that, thus setting up a second intriguing encounter between the classic come forward style and aggression of Marcus Maidana and its defensive and counterpunching antithesis in the form of Floyd Mayweather Jnr.