Sunday morning

Floyd Mayweather vs  Marcos Maidana 03am (12 Rounds)

LAS VEGAS - Floyd Mayweather plans to use his "ring smarts” to defeat Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

The 37-year-old undefeated American will defend his WBC welterweight title against the powerful Maidana in his first fight since his demolition of Canelo Alvarez seven months ago.

If he wins the fight at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, Mayweather will add Maidana’s WBA belt to his list of titles.

Mayweather believes the key to dethroning the power-punching Argentinian is to use his ring smarts to avoid getting hit. "It takes more than power to beat me,” Mayweather said on Wednesday. "You have to dig deep and be mentally strong; not just physically strong.

"You have never seen me on the canvas and I have been hit by some of the biggest punches.”

The fight at the Grand Garden arena is the third of the 30-month, six-fight deal worth at least $200 million that Mayweather signed with Showtime.

In his previous fight, in September last year, Mayweather dominated Mexican Alvarez to take his record to 45-0, including 26 knockouts.

Asked if he expected a fight similar to his points win over the hard-hitting Miguel Cotto in 2012, Mayweather said he would not know until he feels Maidana’s punches in the ring.

"I am looking to win,” Mayweather said. "He is going to come straight ahead. Even though he has an 80 per cent knockout ratio I can’t say if his punches will be harder than Cotto’s.”

MAIDANA MAKES A POINT

The 30-year-old Maidana, who has a record of 35-3, with 31 wins inside the distance, will be making the first defence of his belt.

He used the news conference to try to dispel the belief that he is just another one of Mayweather’s handpicked opponents designed to pad the American’s record.

"I trained harder for this fight than I ever trained before,” said Maidana, speaking in Spanish. "I earned this opportunity for myself.”

His language got more colourful and he made a point by saying he would be the first to beat Mayweather: "Me vale madre! (I don’t give a s***!),” he said.

INTERESTED IN CLIPPERS

Mayweather’s focus on the fight had not stopped him from noticing the drama erupting around the Los Angeles Clippers and owner Donald Sterling, who was banned for life by the National Basketball Association after racist comments he made to his girlfriend were made public.

Mayweather said he was interested in joining the long list of suitors seeking to buy the Clippers if Sterling was indeed forced to sell.

Mayweather told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he would only do it if he gets a sizeable share in a consortium. "I can’t come in here talking about Mayweather only going to get three or four per cent.”

On the undercard of Saturday’s tournament welterweight Amir Khan fights American Luis Collazo in a non-title bout that could put the Briton in line to fight Mayweather next.