Columnist Dean Juipe: ‘Pretty Boy’ now seen in lesser light

Dean Juipe

Friday, April 19, 2002 | 10:29 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

The "Pretty Boy" tag is meant to be cute, and there was a time when Floyd Mayweather Jr. had sort of a cherubic look to him.

But the nickname has an ancillary meaning as well, referring as it obviously does to the famous gangster who was apathetic to human life but admired for his daring, his brazenness and his charm with the ladies.

A good-looking killer, that was the image Mayweather and his handlers were after when they chose the Pretty Boy monicker for the rising boxer. It only seemed natural.

But as time passes and as Mayweather becomes more and more saddled with legal complaints and multiple accusations of assault, the fighter comes across as more gangsta than hunk. To those he allegedly accosts, he's more harmful than huggable.

Mayweather isn't the first fighter with an image problem yet he may be less inclined to change the public's impressions of him than most. Flanked by a small army of suits and burly sidekicks, he flaunts his celebrity with a rapt indifference.

Regretfully for boxing fans who would like to see him lassoed from his high horse, there may be no taking him down. Like him or not -- and those who don't are unmistakably gaining in number -- Mayweather is in a position to become one of the most renowned fighters in the history of the sport.

Where he may be impacted, however, is in the pocket book.

People don't have to buy tickets to his fights, such as the one Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden with Mexico's Jose Luis Castillo, and it's a safe bet that many local fans have already written him off. No point contributing to his delinquency, and all of that.

The shame of it is easily discernible: Mayweather could have portrayed himself in a much different light, one that would have shown him as a loving son, a wholesome person and a savior within a sometimes despicable sport.

Yet his downward public-relations slide began with a series of ugly incidents involving his father, as Floyd Jr. booted ol' dad out of the house and -- according to a member of his family -- replaced him with a bunch of guys who may be guilty of living off the fat of the land. His entourage began to take shape.

So, too, has his reputation as a quick-tempered slugger. A recent guilty plea on a domestic violence charge only scratches the surface of Mayweather's rap sheet, said a lawyer this week who accused the Las Vegas resident of being involved in "hundreds" of Metro Police reports.

The result, at least as of Thursday, is that the Nevada State Athletic Commission has taken a few calls questioning how it can license this man and not Mike Tyson, and a number of remarks and e-mails directed my way from otherwise normal boxing fans who have an abnormal desire to see Mayweather defeated.

It isn't apt to happen this weekend, although bettors are siding with Castillo in that he is now a plus 320 at the MGM sports book after opening at a plus 375. Those wagerers, however, may be guilty of wishful thinking.

Mayweather is a great fighter but is looking more and more like a lousy hero with a story that is no longer pretty, no longer cute.

He has come off the drawing board and spoiled.