Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s opponent is not impressed

If we agree that boxing is the gift that keeps on giving, then Saturday night’s offering here is a special package, with fancy wrapping paper and a big red bow.

So often, when Floyd Mayweather Jr. is about to climb into the ring, the writing is mostly about the fighting. He is usually something like a 10-1 favorite, the other guy is usually overwhelmed and under-skilled and the result is pretty predictable.

Mayweather will win and preen and say disgustingly arrogant things and we will wait for the announcement of the next charade.

This time, it feels slightly different. It’s not that we don’t think Mayweather will win. It’s just that his journey this time has been much more interesting.

Mayweather is facing a pit bull named Marcos Maidana. He is an Argentine whose main attribute, other than his decent ability as a boxer, is that he couldn’t care less about all the usual Mayweather mystique. His indifference to that should be frightening to Mayweather, who assumes trepidation on the part of all opponents.

In their first fight here in May, Maidana attempted to treat Mayweather like Dick Butkus used to treat opposing quarterbacks. It was more bull rush than boxing. Sweet science became brutal brawl.

“I will not allow him to do what he wants,” Maidana continues to say.

Mayweather, of course, didn’t get to be 46-0 and still unmarked at age 37 by not figuring things out. He was too quick and Maidana, 31, was too heavy and too slow in the later rounds.

Mayweather won what is known as a majority decision, when two judges scored it a lopsided victory for him and the third called it a draw.

Soon, it was decided to do it again. Then, the bull rushes that made Mayweather so uncomfortable became part of the publicity baloney for this next fight. Mayweather said he wanted to do it right this time, to assuage any doubt. He was doing this for the fans, he said, for those who weren’t sure.

In truth, he has a $200-million contract with Showtime, he needs to get in a set number of fights in a set amount of time, and Maidana was about the only option available for this quick turnaround. It was about money, as are all things with Mayweather.

Mayweather’s guarantee for this one, before pay-per-view money, is $32 million. Maidana will get $3 million and seems not the least bit interested in paying any homage to the payee, Mayweather.

In his training camp in Oxnard, Maidana had a mannequin of Mayweather. On it were the numbers 45-2. That represented the Maidana camp’s interpretation of what Mayweather’s record will be after Saturday night, including the assumption that they also won the last fight.

That’s arrogance countering arrogance. There is nothing more important to Mayweather, other than his bank account, than his unbeaten record.

The Maidana camp has also giggled at Mayweather’s continued characterization of Maidana as a “dirty fighter.” This, of course, is coming from the fighter who sent Victor Ortiz into La-La Land with one of the great (and legal) sucker punches of all time; also from the fighter who leads with his elbow more often than an NFL offensive tackle.

But the gift package of stories goes well beyond an opponent who has a chance because he remains unaffected by 24/7 Mayweather.

Timing is everything and Mayweather’s was terrible.

The Ray Rice video arrived, preceded by a lawsuit against Mayweather for yet another domestic abuse situation — he went to jail for two months in 2012 for one — and Mayweather answered the first wave of questions about the Rice issue incorrectly and insensitively.

It was as if his camp had no clue this was coming. Did they try and he didn’t listen? Whatever happened to preparing for the inevitable? Maybe he called Roger Goodell for PR advice.

This was all preceded by rapper 50 Cent, a former Mayweather confidant, telling the world on TV that Mayweather can’t read. Mayweather replied by putting pictures on the Internet of two checks from his last two fights, totaling around $72 million. The message was: I can read this.

Now, as we head to fight time, Gloria Allred, attorney for the defendant in the new domestic abuse case against Mayweather, is advocating a boycott. If you buy the pay-per-view of the fight, you will be supporting domestic abusers, Allred says. An ESPN.com writer named Sarah Spain advocated the same thing for the same reasons.

Showtime is asking $75 to see the fight in HD. It also has moved the main event fight time an hour earlier than the usual after-midnight Eastern time start. That makes it, for those of us on the West Coast, an almost teachable moment.

With an 8 p.m. start, the kids can stay up and watch and ask questions such as:

“What’s domestic abuse, Daddy?”

“Do you make $32 million in your job?”

“Why do I need to learn how to read?”