Floyd Mayweather pledges to show Logan Paul ‘the difference between YouTube boxing and elite boxing’ at tense staredown (VIDEO)

Ring icon Floyd Mayweather says that he has "trained a little bit here and there" for Sunday's exhibition fight with YouTube star Logan Paul but is confident that his natural ability will see him through against the novice boxer.

It almost seems perverse to pair the 50-0 undefeated boxer hailed by most as being among the sport's all-time greats with winless neophyte Paul but the current landscape of pay-per-view boxing has created a new economic horizon in prizefighting, and it is a honeypot that Mayweather is only to keen to dip his hands in to. 

The two rivals came face-to-face (or face to chest in Mayweather's case) in a prolonged face-off in Miami late Thursday, with Mayweather refusing to break his gaze from Paul during the protracted staredown.

The fight will produce a bountiful payday for both but Mayweather might well have an extra motivation to put a hurting on his 26-year-old opponent after the recent press event several weeks ago in which the younger of the two Paul brothers, Jake, stole Mayweather's baseball cap and provoked a melee in which the furious boxer repeatedly claimed he had been "disrespected". 

But if that particular exchange saw Mayweather lose his famous cool, his steely persona was wholly re-established during Thursday's face-off and his comments afterwards.

"There is a difference between YouTube boxing and elite boxing – you guys will see the difference," Mayweather, 44, said.

"He's banking on his height, he's banking on his reach. So we'll just see. I have a trained a little bit, here and there, not every day. But I don't have to."

Sunday's showdown will be Mayweather's first time in the ring since another exhibition against Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in late 2018, a fight which Mayweather easily won by first round KO. 

Paul, though, presents a different challenge. He will be almost a full foot taller than Nasukawa and will tower over the 5ft 8in Mayweather in the ring, while at 190lbs he is expected to be around 30lbs heavier than Mayweather come fight time – but Mayweather seems undaunted, and says that he is taking on the fight for the challenge rather than for the not-insignificant paycheck it will garner him.

"The 'so-called' top fighters, like Manny Pacquiao? He has to fight. I don't have to. I do what I want to do. I retired," he said.

"Am I proud of Pacquiao? Absolutely. But he has to fight. I made smart investments to put myself in the position where I don't have to fight anymore."

And as for Paul, he says that he is going to march to the ring this weekend and give it his all.

"I'll fight my heart out," the YouTuber said. "That's the beautiful thing about this sport. Experience is fantastic. In almost any industry experience is going to trump everything else. 

"But at the end of the day, this is a fight and anything can happen."