TAKE FIVE: FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. VS. CARLOS BALDOMIR

Friday, Nov. 3, 2006 | 7:24 a.m.

Principals: Floyd Mayweather Jr. (36-0, 24 KOs) vs. Carlos Baldomir (43-9-6, 13 KOs)

At stake: Baldomir's WBC welterweight belt, Mayweather's claim to boxing's unofficial pound-for-pound title

Time/site: Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center; doors open 3:30 p.m., first bout approximately 4:30 p.m.

Tickets: $75 to $750; (877) 632-7400 or (702) 632-7580

TV: HBO Pay-Per-View, $49.95

Undercard: Robert Guerrero (19-1-1, 12 KOs) vs. Orlando Salido (27-9-2, 18 KOs), 12 rounds, IBF featherweight championship; Paul Williams (31-0, 23 KOs) vs. Mauro Lucero (42-11-1, 28 KOs), 8 rounds, welterweights; Chris Arreola (17-0, 15 KOs) vs. Damian Wills (21-0-1, 15 KOs), 8 rounds, heavyweights; Robbie Peden (25-3, 14 KOs) vs. Wes Ferguson (14-1-1, 3 KOs), 10 rounds, lightweights; Alejo Sepulveda (pro debut) vs. Cedric Holmes (0-3), 4 rounds, welterweights

Betting line: Mayweather -500/Baldomir +350

Matter of respect

Mayweather, 16-0 in world championship fights, treasures his reputation as boxing's hardest-working fighter as much as his mythical pound-for-pound title. As Mayweather sees it, Baldomir earned a shot against him by beating three tough opponents - Arturo Gatti, Zab Judah and Miguel Angel Rodriguez - in his most recent fights. "I respect his hard work, and what he did to get here," Mayweather, 29, said. "As far as his fighting, I can't say I respect that because he hasn't been in there with the likes of Floyd Mayweather." Mayweather said his performance won't be affected by the absence from camp of his trainer and uncle Roger Mayweather, in jail for felony battery. "I'm razor-sharp," Floyd Mayweather said.

Road work

Baldomir wrested the welterweight title from Judah in January, scoring a unanimous decision in Judah's hometown of New York City. In July, he stopped Gatti in the ninth round in Atlantic City, Gatti's longtime home court. Now he faces boxing's No. 1 fighter in Mayweather's adopted hometown of Las Vegas. Although both fighters are predicting a knockout victory, Mayweather figures to have an edge in speed, conditioning and technical skills. "I beat guys mentally before I beat them physically," said Mayweather, a native of Grand Rapids, Mich. "He's going to go in there thinking that he's fighting Zab Judah, and there's a total different style."

Humble background

Baldomir grew up poor in Santa Fe, Argentina, also the hometown of former middleweight champion Carlos Monzon. Baldomir was inspired to become a boxer at age 5 after watching Monzon fight on television, and he later worked with Monzon's trainer, Amilcar Brusa. "Monzon wasn't really my idol, but he was someone I looked up to," Baldomir, 35, said. "As a kid, I thought, what am I going to be doing 20 years from now, and because I was watching Monzon fight, I said that's what I want to do. I want to be like this guy." Baldomir, who stands to earn $1.5 million to Mayweather's $8 million-plus, said he would still be selling feather dusters in Santa Fe if not for his boxing success.

On edge

Mayweather has criticized his former promoter, Bob Arum, for being too "grumpy" - and that was before he saw Baldomir's demeanor at Wednesday's prefight news conference at Mandalay Bay. After glaring at promoter Dan Goossen throughout the proceedings, a cranky Baldomir lost it when Mayweather's manager, Leonard Ellerbe, tried to pull a harmless prank. Ellerbe produced a white surrender flag and told Baldomir to use it Saturday if he decides he doesn't want to leave the ring "on his face or on his (behind)." Baldomir opened a bottle of water and hurled the contents at Ellerbe, Mayweather fired back with water from his own bottle, and the two men had to be kept apart.

Undercard feature

What a great contrast in the respective "most embarrassing moments" listed in the official biographies of Robert Guerrero and Orlando Salido, who square off for the IBF featherweight title Saturday. Guerrero, the reigning champ, describes an incident when he was 5 years old and arrived at school wearing his pants backward. After his teacher alerted him to the situation, he retreated to the restroom to correct it. Salido, who gets credit for candor, opted for a slightly more serious transgression: "After the (Juan Manuel) Marquez fight, he got arrested for stealing cars in Mexico. It postponed his next fight because he was in jail for six months."