Mayweather will allow Gerena to dictate fight

Dean Juipe

Friday, Sept. 10, 1999 | 11:03 a.m.

The length of time Floyd Mayweather spends in the ring Saturday night will be determined by Carlos Gerena.

If Gerena chooses to go toe to toe with the World Boxing Council junior lightweight champion from Las Vegas, Mayweather promises to make it a short night. But if, as Mayweather fears, Gerena will look to do nothing more than survive, the rounds could add up before the outcome is secured.

"To be honest, I think he'll try to run," Mayweather said Thursday of his opponent in the main event of a boxing card at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. "Whether he does or doesn't, I'm going to be throwing bombs. So if he wants to fight, it's all the better for me."

Mayweather, 22, is 21-0 with 16 knockouts in a still-developing career that already has rocketed him to national prominence. For instance, the cable network HBO will televise this fight and Mayweather is receiving a very substantial $500,000 for his efforts.

He's a heavy favorite in the Mandalay Bay sports book and the numbers have continued to climb since the bout was first posted last month. It's presently Mayweather minus 1800 and Gerena plus 1200.

"I came here for my second try at a world title and I'm ready to take full advantage of it," Gerena, a native of Puerto Rico, said. "May the best man win."

Gerena, 28, is 34-2 with 28 knockouts but was unimpressive in an eight-round decision win May 22 in Las Vegas. In his previous crack at a world championship, Gerena lost a 12-round decision to Genaro Hernandez last year.

For comparison's sake, Hernandez fought Mayweather last October and was relentlessly pummeled for eight rounds before retiring on his stool.

Gerena, who does not have a significant victory over a "name" fighter on his resume, will be paid $65,000 for his support role in a fight designed to showcase the champion.

"Right now, you can't call Floyd great," said his uncle and assistant trainer, Jeff Mayweather. "But one day, he's going to be great. Twenty years from now people will be talking about him and I think he'll become a legend."

Toward that illustrious goal, Floyd Mayweather says he not only enjoys being a champion at 130 pounds but that he's looking to be a champion at 135, 140 and 147 before he retires.

"I plan on being a world champion for 10 years," he said. "Right now I just feel so good and everything is going so right for me that I don't feel I can lose. I'm strong and I'm the best defensive boxer in the game today; I don't get hit."

Five other bouts are scheduled on a card that will open at 5 p.m., including: Freddie Norwood, 34-0-1, vs. Juan Manuel Marquez, 29-1, 12 rounds for Norwood's World Boxing Association featherweight championship; Francisco Mendez, 12-15, vs. Nicolas Cervera, 29-2-1, 10 rounds, junior middleweights; Israel Cole, 15-8-4, vs. Maurice Harris, 15-9-2, 10 rounds, heavyweights; Mark Saurez, 10-0, vs. an opponent yet to be determined, 10 rounds, junior welterweights; and Marie Olivas, 0-1-1, vs. Pamela Barker, 3-0, four rounds, women, junior bantamweights.