RING welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. “was forced to take the rematch” with Marcos Maidana since the first fight was so close, Maidana and trainer Robert Garcia insisted during a Tuesday conference call.

Mayweather (46-0, 26 knockouts) will also defend his WBA and WBC 147-pound belts against Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) on the Sept. 13 card billed “Mayhem” on Showtime Pay-Per-View at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, site of Mayweather’s majority decision victory in May.

Click here for a video recap of Mayweather-Maidana I

“I think that I got the rematch because it was a close fight,” said Maidana, who landed 221 punches against Mayweather, more than any other fighter in the winner’s past 38 bouts, according to CompuBox.

“It was a close fight and he probably wants to prove a point. He wants to demonstrate that he can beat me outright but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the rematch is happening and I’m very happy about that.”

Mayweather called Maidana “a tough, rugged dude” during the post-fight press conference after adding Maidana’s WBA title to his collection of belts. Mayweather elected to face the Argentine slugger yet again over other challengers, most notably, Amir Khan.

“I truly believe that he had no other options. He was forced to take the rematch. He was forced to fight Maidana again,” said Garcia of Mayweather, who will face Maidana on a card replete with Mexican fighters on Mexican Independence Day weekend.

“There was no other big names out there that Mayweather could fight in September that would make sense. The rematch with Maidana is the only fight that made sense to sell pay-per-views and to please the fans. He had no other options and that’s why he took the fight.”

KENNY BAYLESS, NOT TONY WEEKS, GETS MAYWEATHER-MAIDANA II

Mayweather said he thought referee Tony Weeks was too lenient on Maidana, whom he said “bent my arm” in the second round “when the ref told us to break” and caused the number one-ranked pound-for-pound boxer to shake it noticeably.

Mayweather derided Maidana for being too rough, calling their bout “the toughest wrestling match” he had ever been a part of and saying Maidana is “more like a WWE wrestler” than a boxer.

Although he complained of low blows, Mayweather said Maidana had, nevertheless, earned a September rematch if he thought he had won, even as Mayweather said, “Next time, don’t hit me in the d__k so much.”

“This second fight, I hope that he decides to stand and fight with me and to fight like a man. I hope that he doesn’t decide to start running or trying to move away,” said Maidana, 31.

“This next fight, I’m not going to respect him. I’m just going to go at him and I want him to fight. I want him to fight like a man. I want him to stop crying like a little b–ch and fight.”

For Mayweather-Maidana II, the Nevada State Athletic Commission selected veteran referee Kenny Bayless, who has worked Mayweather’s victories over Oscar De La Hoya in May 2007, Shane Mosley in May 2010 and Saul Alvarez in May 2013.

Other big fights Bayless has worked include Danny Garcia’s fourth round TKO of Khan in July 2012, Juan Manuel Marquez sixth round KO of Manny Pacquiao in December 2012 and Pacquiao’s unanimous decision over Tim Bradley in April.

“I think that Tony did a great job in first fight and Kenny Bayless is also a good ref. He’s done a lot of championship fights, so he does a good job. I have no problem with him…I know that Kenny’s a great referee and I know that he’s going to do a great job,” said Garcia of Bayless, who worked Maidana’s eighth round TKO of Jesus Soto Karass in September 2012.

“I just know that when we still didn’t know who the referee was, that Mayweather, by starting to announce that Maidana was a dirty fighter and that he was an MMA fighter, that was pretty much already preparing whoever the referee was going to be, to ‘see’ that and to have that in his mind. Well, I don’t think that’s going to make a big difference because Kenny is a professional and he knows how to handle the fighters.”

Although Maidana did not appear to be as convinced that Bayless’ presence won’t be a factor, he expressed confidence that he could handle whatever comes.

“You know, maybe the referee is going to intervene. Maybe he’s going to be a big part of the fight. I don’t know,” said Maidana.

“I’m going to go in there and I’m going to do my job. I’m going to go in there and do what I’ve been training to do and I’m going to go in there and do my work. That really doesn’t matter to me.”

CAN MAIDANA DEFEAT MAYWEATHER BY DECISION?

Mayweather won by scores of 116-112 and 117-111 on the cards of Dave Moretti and Burt A. Clements, respectively, although Michael Pernick scored the bout a draw. Mayweather had an advantage in overall punches landed at 230-to-221 and landed jabs (52-to-36) while Maidana had the edge in power shots, 185-to-178.

“In the first fight, I was able to force him to stand and fight and that had a lot to do with conditioning. The times when he decided to box, that’s because I let him get away. I let him be able to box and move,” said Maidana.

“I think that I did well in forcing him to fight because of the pressure that I put on him. This time around, I’m not going to get tired and I’m going to be on him from the opening bell and for the entire fight and I think that’s going to force him to fight.”

Maidana hopes his increased work rate will be enough to influence the judges for the return bout, who will be Moretti of Las Vegas, Guido Cavalleri of Italy and John McKaie of New York.

“I think that I can win by decision or by knockout. The first fight was a very close fight. It was a decision. It was a majority decision,” said Maidana.

“So I feel that I just have to make a few adjustments and to put a little bit more pressure on, land some more punches. I can win by decision but obviously, the knockout would be nice and that’s a possibility as well.”

LEONARD ELLERBE: MAIDANA MUST WEAR EVERLAST POWERLOCK GLOVES

In the first fight, Maidana was not permitted to use his preferred Everlast MX gloves but rather the Mayweather-mandated PowerLock gloves. The MX gloves were considered to have lacked the appropriate amount of padding around the area at the knuckles and the final decision was not rendered until early on fight day.

Asked which gloves would be used by Maidana on Sept. 13, Garcia seemed unsure, initially.

“I know Maidana was still asking me yesterday if we had results yet and I told him, ‘No.’ We don’t have a problem with the PowerLocks. We just wanted enough time to try them,” said Garcia.

“Not the day of the fight and we have never worn them before. Not a problem. The PowerLock is a good glove and we already trained in them just in case. I have no problem. I’ve already trained my fighter to prepare for that.”

But moments later, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, was more conclusive.

“Yes,” said Ellerbe. “Marcos will be fighting in the PowerLock gloves.”

In defeat, would Maidana be able to walk away without complaining about the gloves?

“Look, when we agree to the fight, we can not go back and say, ‘We should have been able to use our gloves.’ There’s nothing we can do. If we agree to fight in those gloves, then there’s no excuses,” said Garcia.

“It does make a difference and Mayweather’s the only fighter who can make those calls and make those decisions. So, hey, we have to understand that that’s the way the business is. But we can’t have no excuses.”

Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images