Floyd Mayweather Jr. says opponents haven’t seen his best

In 18 years as a professional boxer, Floyd Mayweather has built a 45-0 record while facing just about every style of fighter imaginable.

The way he sees it, though, there’s one thing he hasn’t done.

“I haven’t brought my best out yet,” Mayweather said this week during media day for his May 3 fight against Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The fight is the third in Mayweather’s lucrative six-fight deal with Showtime.

“I’ve had some good fights — some people say the Diego Corrales fight, the Arturo Gatti fight. … The majority of time I’ve beaten fighters with probably 40%” of his maximum effort.

Even though Maidana is a considerable underdog, Mayweather insists he isn’t overlooking him.

Argentina’s Maidana, the WBA welterweight world champion, is a brutal puncher with an unorthodox style, who improved to 35-3 (31 by knockout) with a decision in December over Adrien Broner.

Mayweather said Maidana “deserved the opportunity. He’s a champion. He’s been fighting and proving himself for years now. This is a guy with an 80% knockout ratio, and [there’s] nothing like champion vs. champion.”

Although he’s known for his elusiveness in the ring, Mayweather said he’s prepared to go toe-to-toe with Maidana.

“I’m not going to do a lot of moving,” he said. “I’m going to come straight ahead and do what I have to do.”

That said, Mayweather plans to be patient as always in measuring up his opponent.

“In the sport of boxing, it’s like a game of chess,” he said. “Every move has to be thought of before you make the move, whereas in checkers you just make reckless moves. But in chess, you take your time and the moves are thought about. You study the board before you make a move.”