Confidence man

Thursday, March 16, 2000 | 9:04 a.m.

Dean Juipe's boxing notebook appears Thursday. His sports column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at juipe@vegas.com or 259-4084.

With a sizable entourage and a swagger that reflects his undefeated status, Floyd Mayweather exudes a confidence that is not easily deterred.

Pose any question to him pertaining to his abilities and status as the World Boxing Council's 130-pound champion and Mayweather routinely accentuates the positive.

From his perspective, he will never lose a fight.

And, to date, he hasn't.

At 23 years old the Las Vegas resident appears to be scaling a summit that eventually could make him a very rich man. Whether people like him personally or not, his record speaks for itself.

He's 22-0 with 17 knockouts as he defends his championship against mandatory challenger Goyo Vargas of Mexico in the main event of Saturday's boxing card at the MGM Grand Garden. While ticket sales have been slow and the arena figures to be no better than half filled, Mayweather has a healthy contract with HBO and an indifference to claims that he has yet to maximize his drawing power.

A blanket response -- "I'm going to do what I have to do" -- explains his attitude toward any number of hurdles he may face in his professional career or personal life.

For instance, in preparation for this fight he moved his training camp from the remote mountains of Big Bear, Calif., to the very urbanized setting of Phoenix, in spite of the warnings of his father and trainer, Floyd Sr.

"I never liked Big Bear," Mayweather said of the switch. And of hanging out in Phoenix, he offered that it gave him a chance to "go to a couple of (Phoenix Suns) basketball games."

His father wasn't thrilled.

"Myself personally, I like a place that's more of a camp, where there's a forest and fresh air," Floyd Sr. said. "Boxing, this thing we're involved in, is about winning and achieving your goals, so my preference is to train for fights like they did in the old days.

"It ain't about going to the mall, or the movies or to see girls. The chances that you can be distracted are far more likely in a big city."

That said, he quickly adds that "My son is in real good shape. He's healthy and I assume he's focused."

Neither father nor son believes Vargas merits a fight of this stature, and both are looking for a victory within the 12-round distance.

"In my honest opinion, (Vargas) doesn't deserve it," Floyd Sr. said. "But he is the mandatory and he's a good finisher, I'll give him that credit.

"But my son is faster, smarter, more clever and punches harder."

This is the second time Vargas has been scheduled to face Mayweather, having pulled out of a fight last spring under the guise of being ill. Given that he managed to get his purse increased from $100,000 to $180,000, Vargas' health may not have been the issue at all.

"Sick?" Floyd Sr. said. "He wasn't sick. He didn't have the heart and he wanted more money."

Vargas, 29, is 40-6-1 with 28 knockouts and once held the WBC title at 126 pounds. A pro fighter since 1988, he has found only limited success when fighting outside of Mexico.

He was beaten in Reno by Kevin Kelley, beaten in Las Vegas by John John Molina and beaten in Los Angeles by Raul Hernandez. But he has won six consecutive fights including one in San Antonio over Tracy Patterson.

"Do I think Vargas deserves this fight? No," Mayweather said. "But he's a good fighter and I'm not taking him lightly. I'll do what I've got to do."

There's that refrain, and it surfaced a few moments later when Mayweather was analyzing his immediate concern: making weight.

While he was at a reasonable 133 pounds Tuesday, he admits it is getting harder to stay at the junior lightweight limit. (Vargas, incidentally, may have a weight problem as well, if a recent public appearance is any indication.)

As for the likelihood of staying at 130 simply to take on the host of young, good fighters in the division, Mayweather isn't interested.

"None of them are in my class," he said, waving off potentially excellent fighters such as Diego Corrales (30-0), Joel Casamayor (18-0), Jesus Chavez (28-1), Robert Garcia (32-1) and Acelino Freitas (21-0).

Instead, Mayweather will go up to 135 within the year and go after WBC champ Stevie Johnston or IBF champ Paul Spadafora, neither of whom "can bust an egg" according to Floyd Sr. "Those would be easy fights," he added.

Yet Corrales is on Saturday's MGM card defending his IBF 130-pound title against Derrick Gainer, 33-4, with the idea of promoting a Corrales vs. Mayweather fight down the road. If Mayweather has any say in it, that fight will be at 135.

Besides, he doesn't think Corrales would be that great of a challenge.

Overhearing gym talk that Corrales was coming off a rough sparring session with Kelley in which the champion took the worst of it, Mayweather offered a rather curt opinion.

"That's doesn't surprise me," he said.

Mayweather is a solid betting favorite for his fight with Vargas, which will be his sixth with the WBC title at stake. He was brilliant in forcing then-champion Genaro Hernandez into submission two years ago, and has followed that up with wins over Angel Manfredy, Carlos Rios, Justin Juuko and Carlos Gerena.

Asked about what he enjoys most of being champion, Mayweather gave a vague, almost mysterious, reply. "I can't answer that," he said.

Asked what he didn't like, he said "There's a lot I wish was better."

Nonetheless he perseveres.

"I just want to keep winning and finish my career undefeated," he said. "That's my goal. I'll do what I have to do."

* QUICK HITS: Aside from the Saturday fights involving Mayweather and Corrales at the MGM, there are two eight-round bouts: Victor Polo, 26-2-2, vs. Amador Vasquez, 12-4-2, at 126 pounds, and Nicolas Cervera, 31-2-1, vs. Orlando Hollis, 19-5, at 154 pounds. Tickets are $25 to $300 and the first bell is at 5:30 p.m. ... The Orleans has a Friday card in which Edson Nascimento, 36-0, is paired with Javier Valadez, 15-9, who is a late replacement for Jose Luis Baltazar. They're scheduled for 10 rounds at 126 pounds. Also fighting are Freddie Neal, 14-0-1, and Sandro Marcos, 20-5, in a 10-round fight at 130 pounds, and Rene Arostegui, 23-1, and Jesus Diaz, 5-3-5, in a six-round fight at 160 pounds. Tickets are $15 to $40 and the first bell is 7 p.m.

The June 17 fight in Los Angeles between Oscar De La Hoya and Shane Mosley will be formally announced Monday in LA. "This is a fight that will have more drama in Los Angeles than it would in Las Vegas," promoter Bob Arum said, referring to De La Hoya and Mosley both being natives of Southern California. "It's really good for boxing and for Oscar to have fights at venues outside Las Vegas." De La Hoya, 32-1, could earn as much as $7 million, while Mosley, 34-0, could top out at $3 million. The State of California agreed to a ceiling on the gate tax, as Arum had requested, in order to land the fight. ... The late Johnny Tocco will be included in the 2000 induction class for the Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame. The ceremony, scheduled for June 3, will honor the longtime boxing trainer as well as golfer Jim Colbert, football star Randall Cunningham, basket ball star Lionel Hollins and booster Tom Wiesner.

The April 1 boxing card at Regent Las Vegas has undergone some changes, with heavyweight Lawrence Clay-Bey being replaced by Adolpho Washington as Chris Byrd's opponent in the main event. Washington, 28-8-2, said "I love fighting southpaws like Byrd. I won my (IBF cruiserweight) world title from one (Torsten May). I understand why so many contenders won't fight Byrd. He's slick and he makes his opponents look bad. I'm not afraid of him." The semi-main event also changed a bit, as local featherweight Augie Sanchez supposedly will meet Jorge Antonio Paredes, 17-5-4, although a source in Germany claims Paredes is fighting there this weekend; Sanchez was to have faced Enrique Jupiter. Local heavyweight Jorge Luis Gonzalez, 30-5, has also been added to the card against an opponent to be determined.

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