Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002 | 1:20 a.m.
With a perfect record, a world championship and a widespread belief that he may be the finest fighter in the world, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has earned the right to come across as brash.
And he doesn't disappoint.
"This guy can't possibly convince himself that he can beat me," Mayweather said this week, sizing up his April 20 opponent at the MGM Grand Garden, World Boxing Council lightweight champion Jose Luis Castillo.
"No matter what he might say, deep in his heart he knows he's going to get it," Mayweather added. "They say he's the best lightweight, but he looks pretty basic to me."
Mayweather, who turned 25 Sunday, is 27-0 with 20 knockouts and has relinquished his WBC title at 130 pounds to go after Castillo at 135. The latter, 28, is 45-4-1 with 41 KOs.
"Yeah, it's going to be an easy fight," Castillo said through a translator. "Easy for me, that is."
A professional since 1990, Castillo obviously has a big punch yet he has also lost four times by knockout and Mayweather plans to tack on a fifth.
"The more I move up (in weight), the harder I'll be able to hit," he said. "I'm feeling good, man. I feel good for this fight and he's not going to be able to keep me off him."
While Mayweather has only a passing knowledge of Castillo, he does know the reigning champion took a nontitle fight (with Juan Macias) last month in Laughlin and came in at a stunning 150 pounds.
Castillo says "I took that fight for a reason and I only had two weeks to prepare," but Mayweather said it's a sign that his upcoming opponent isn't as committed as he should be.
"He's not serious about his job," Mayweather said. "What he did isn't professional and proves he can't be serious.
"But I'm serious and I'm going to do my job, which is to win and look good doing it, as always."
The just-posted betting line in the MGM sports book has Mayweather at a minus 500 and Castillo at a plus 375 for their HBO-televised bout. A companion lightweight fight between former champions Stevie Johnston (33-2-1) and Alejandro Gonzalez (48-4-1) highlights the undercard.
Tickets, priced from $25 to $300, are now on sale.
Mayweather passed up a trial fight at 135 with Gonzalez, while Castillo owns a victory over Johnston. That combination of factors has Mayweather disinterested in facing the undercard winner in an ensuing fight.
"I'm not fighting no fighters just for something to do," he said. "I need a fight to get me to another level, and fighting those guys wouldn't do it."
He's irked that new World Boxing Association junior lightweight champ Acelino Freitas didn't accept his challenge, and equally perplexed with International Boxing Federation junior lightweight champ Steve Forbes for his reluctant ways.
"I asked to fight Forbes and he turned me down," Mayweather said. "The other guy (Freitas) would have been a big money fight but he didn't really want to do it."
So Mayweather settled for Castillo, which is what his promotional firm -- Top Rank -- had in mind all along.
"I could have been the undisputed champion at 130 pounds," Mayweather said. "But guys are ducking and dodging me, so I'll move on. But I could go back to 130 or I could go to 140 for a pay-per-view fight.
"I just want to become a household name. I put (backsides) in the seats now but I want to see people standing to get those seats.
"Eventually, the man whose title is 'promoter' is going to have to promote me and put some money behind me. I've been promised this and that, but show me. Get my face out there."
Mayweather has talked of retiring from boxing within a year or two if his career stalls, or if a second career as a rap music mogul blossoms. Aided by his manager, James Prince, Mayweather has formed a new recording label.
"I love boxing but I'll quit it when music can provide me with all the toys that boxing does now," he said. "I love music just as much."
Whenever it's time to retire, he believes he'll go into it with his perfect record intact.
"I haven't taken any abuse in the sport in 10 years," he said, "and who's going to beat me? Whether they put (past opponents) Genaro Hernandez or Diego Corrales or Jesus Chavez in front of me, I beat all those boys and I'll beat this one, too."
Castillo, once a sparring partner for Julio Cesar Chavez, took the ribbing in stride and remarked that he'll do to Mayweather Jr. what his mentor once did to Floyd's uncle, Roger.
"The story will repeat itself again," he said of Chavez stopping Roger Mayweather in the 10th round of a fight in 1989.
Not that Castillo doesn't know what he's in for, but he's promising to appease the portion of the crowd that Mayweather routinely alienates.
"He's quick, he's fast and he's complicated, but I know him and I'm not scared of him," Castillo said. "He doesn't punch hard and the first time he gets hit by me, he'll run the rest of the night.
"I'm better than him and I'm going to put him to sleep. He doesn't think five pounds makes a big difference, but it does.
"A lot of people don't like him because of the way he talks and acts, and I'm in position to teach him a lesson."
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