Matter of pride

Dean Juipe

Friday, Jan. 19, 2001 | 10:34 a.m.

Arriving early and casually accommodating any and all interview requests, Diego Corrales, like everyone else at Studio 54 inside the MGM Grand, turned to hear the roar and see the commotion as Floyd Mayweather Jr. entered the room.

Accompanied by his vocal and suggestive entourage, Mayweather's entrance and subsequent stay at the final prefight press conference touting his Saturday fight with Corrales had a Tyson-esque quality to it. Members of his close-knit party touted his presence and intermittently shouted hosanna-like praises, drawing attention to themselves even as other speakers were at the microphone.

"You don't see me needing people like that around me, do you?" Corrales asked and answered. "I don't need it, but he does. It shows he needs somebody to make him feel confident.

"He needs the ego boost."

Corrales and Mayweather will take part in the year's first significant fight, with Mayweather's World Boxing Council championship at 130 pounds on the line. It's a fight worth a good deal of money to each man -- Mayweather gets $1.7 million and Corrales $1.4 million -- but the bucks are clearly overshadowed by the element of pride.

These guys don't like each other and haven't for at least five years.

While Mayweather remains a minus 135 betting favorite, Corrales has been bet down to a plus 115 for a fight that headlines a Top Rank card that will be televised by HBO but blacked out in Las Vegas.

"He's a good fighter but I'm the best right now," Mayweather said. "He's straight up and down with no special effects. I'm going to school him.

"I'm going to show him how a veteran does it."

Mayweather, 23, is 24-0 with 18 knockouts.

Corrales, also 23, is 33-0 with 27 KOs.

With MGM security very much present and on alert, along with an additional presence by Las Vegas Metro, Thursday's press conference was, by design, meant to be non-confrontational. The traditional posing of the fighters, usually with fists raised and occasionally with mock indignation, was bypassed as promoter Bob Arum did his best to not have this meeting copy a volatile one in Los Angeles two days earlier.

Not that Mayweather's entourage didn't try to goad Corrales into losing his cool.

"Wife beater," was shouted out toward him more than once, a reference to a still-unresolved criminal complaint facing Corrales in Sacramento. He was arrested last July after allegedly hitting and threatening his then-pregnant wife, Maria.

The couple is now estranged.

"We're going to have Maria sitting ringside," Mayweather's manager, James Prince, said, taunting Corrales. "She expressed that she'd like you to receive the same treatment you gave her."

Corrales refused the bait and remained composed.

"I'm having fun," he said of the publicity and hype that has surrounded the fight. "Why shouldn't I?"

Obviously, one man or the other is going to taste defeat as a professional for the first time, and Corrales didn't hesitate to respond when he was asked how he thought Mayweather would react to losing.

"I don't think he's going to take it so well," he said. "He'll be devastated.

"He'll find it's a long road up but it doesn't take long to get back down."

A final technicality, aside from the fighters weighing in today, is in the certification of Richard Steele as the fight's referee in spite of a protest filed by the Corrales camp.

"I'll have to adapt," Corrales said, having earlier claimed that "Mr. Steele and Floyd have been pretty close and it could be a conflict of interest."

Judging the fight will be Jerry Roth of Las Vegas, John Keane of England and Anek Hongtonkan of Thailand.

Bettors feel the bout will go the distance -- it's a minus 155 that it will, as opposed to a plus 135 that it won't -- so the officials could help determine the outcome.

"Whether people love me or hate me, I want them to appreciate me," Mayweather said. "I'm coming to fight and I guarantee I'll be the winner."

It was a message that drew an "amen" from his supporters, but one that sparked a word of caution by a man who has been affiliated with both Mayweather and Corrales. Miguel Diaz, once Mayweather's cut man, is now performing the same role for Corrales.

"I just hope no one goes to jail," he remarked to a mixture of laughs and crossed fingers, everyone involved knowing the potential for fireworks is not limited to the ring.