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Here we go again.

In May, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Marcos Maidana gave us a surprisingly competitive fight. Mayweather emerged with his perfect record unscathed but, as a result of Maidana’s pluck and power, he knew he’d been in a fight.

So when Mayweather was considering opponents for his Sept. 13 date at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, he didn’t have to look far. He went with the guy fans know can give him a bit of trouble – Maidana.

The rematch is the cover story for THE RING’s October 2014 issue, which is available on newsstands now. We devote 22 pages to a preview package we hope provides insight and reflects the magnitude of the event.

Our lead story, Into the Cauldron, written by Norm Frauenheim, looks back on how a boxer as dominating as Mayweather ended up in an honest-to-goodness fight and then explores the prospects of each fighter in the rematch.

“Why in the world did the globe’s best boxer, a control freak, permit an opponent to do the dictating?” Frauenheim writes. “At the very least, it was out of character. Maybe it represents the early signs of decline, an inevitability that might be the only barrier in his evident quest of the unbeaten standard. Or maybe it was just a bad night.

“Maybe, maybe, maybe.

“A rematch is the only way to remove that uncertainty. Maybe.”

In Dynasty, written by contributor Tim Smith, we look back on the genesis of the Mayweather Era, which started when Floyd Mayweather Sr. was a pugnacious child in the mid-1960s, produced a world champion Roger Mayweather and continues a half century later.

And, in a special project, THE RING editors wanted to have a better idea of where Mayweather Jr. really stands among the best fighters of the past.

Thus, for The Best of Modern Times?, we polled 20 boxing experts to determine the Top 20 fighters, pound for pound, since World War II. We used a point system similar to college football polls to compile our list, which produced some fascinating results

How did Mayweather fare? Did he come out on top? We’re not telling here.

Also, in Will it Be Different?, RingTV.com Editor Doug Fischer gives you the five keys to victory for each fighter.

Elsewhere in the issue, we look back on Canelo Alvarez’s close victory over Erislandy Lara and what it means for the popular Mexican going forward.

In From a Different Mold, Ron Borges writes that Chris Algieri, conqueror of Ruslan Provodnikov and Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent, has an unusual background – he’s a college grad from the suburbs with experience in martial arts – but is a real fighter.

THE RING acknowledges the retirement of future Hall of Famer Evander Holyfield with two stories.

In ‘Never Backed Down,’ contributor Bernard Fernandez writes that Holyfield’s refusal to yield to adversity – even as a child — was the essence of his success. In Heart of Hearts, Tim Smith pens his appreciation of what Holyfield brought into the ring and his accomplishments.

Also in the October issue:

• In Jabs and Straight Writes, by Thomas Hauser, Freddie Roach says the fighter makes the trainer.
• We connect two great warriors – Jack Dempsey and Holyfield – in only seven steps in Advanced Degrees.
• Popular Briton Ricky Hatton is the subject of this month’s Best I Faced, by Anson Wainwright.
• In Ready to Grumble, David Greisman writes that Lara can only blame himself for falling short against Alvarez.
• Bernard Hopkins explains how to Block and Counter in this month’s installment of Perfect Execution.
• The Fighter of the Month? Omaha’s own Terence Crawford, who overwhelmed Yuriorkis Gamboa in a thrilling fight.
• Contributor Gareth A Davies got into the head of Tyson Fury in Letters from Europe.
• Fischer gave his take on the Alvarez-Lara fight in Best of Dougie’s Mailbag.
• Junior lightweight Joel Diaz Jr. – not the trainer, with whom he is sometimes confused – is the focus of New Faces this month.
• In Sweet Science, by Scott LaFee, we discover that the human face may have actually evolved to absorb a punch.
• Thomas Gerbasi writes in Women’s Boxing that talented and passionate Kaliesha West and Ava Knight are teaming up in an effort to provide more opportunities for women.
• And, in Amateur Boxing, Joseph Santoliquito laments the sad state of USA Boxing only two years away from 2016 Olympics.