Backing himself into corner

The man regarded as pound-for-pound the best fighter in the world sat in a chair Saturday night in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, his eyes flashing. Floyd Mayweather Jr. was seething at the injustice of life.

Perhaps 10 yards away, a lineup of some of the best boxing talent of the last decade (or two) stood arm-in-arm on a vast podium from which Mayweather felt excluded, posing for a group photograph.

There were Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Shane Mosley, Marco Antonio Barrera, and Winky Wright, all business partners in Golden Boy Promotions now that the company De La Hoya founded had reached an agreement with Wright's fledgling promotional company to handle his boxing affairs as well as the others'.

As the Golden Boy group stood there grinning, Mayweather seemed convinced he sat where he so obsessively seems to see himself -- on the outside.

``They need each other," Mayweather muttered. ``I don't need anybody! I'm like a gladiator. I'm HBO's No. 1 fighter! None of them will fight me. I've been chasing De La Hoya and Mosley for 10 years. They won't fight me."

Mayweather may be right, but his view that he is being denied and disrespected is a sad comment on his life. At 29, Mayweather is acclaimed as the most talented fighter in the world. It is a status De La Hoya and Mosley have conceded to him even as both are pondering whether to take him on either in November or next May.

Mayweather sat dripping diamond jewelry, his wealth well beyond the dreams of most men in boxing even though he has not yet become a pay-per-view star on the level of an Arturo Gatti, let alone De La Hoya, who is the undisputed champion of salesmanship.

Mayweather has yet to taste defeat or even experience a pitched battle in which the price he is asked to pay for victory is a heavy one. He has been, since turning pro after winning a bronze medal as a featherweight at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, living a charmed life, at least by boxing standards. In other words, ``Floyd, where's the beef?"

To Mayweather, it's everywhere.

``Mosley's been ducking me for 10 years," Mayweather claimed unhappily following Mosley's one-punch knockout of Fernando Vargas Saturday night. ``I've been chasing Shane Mosley forever. I can't keep chasing the guy."

Regarding De La Hoya, market economics and his drawing power still dictate the terms of any fight he's involved in, because he brings the most money by far to any promotion outside the heavyweight division.

Because of that, De La Hoya deals the cards, not only to Mayweather but to a lesser extent to Mosley, as well. If De La Hoya wants to fight Mayweather next May then Mosley will be on hold, because while all the men on the podium were equity partners in Golden Boy Promotions, the only truly golden boy standing there was De La Hoya.

If Mayweather wants to fight in November, he may have to accept someone like World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Antonio Margarito, because it's not likely Mosley would be willing to come back that fast or that De La Hoya would be willing to risk his own vast payday with Mayweather by promoting the event.

Mayweather could wait it out, but that's unlikely.

In fact, he insisted he wants to fight in November and again in February or March. That, of course, is the real problem. He may want to, but he is not yet powerful enough in the marketplace to dictate that.

Knowing that others still control his career to a degree seems to irk Mayweather, a young man not yet content with his greatness and what it already has brought him.

The likelihood is that soon enough Mayweather will face one of the men on that podium -- Mosley or De La Hoya -- with much on the line. Millions will change hands and title belts may as well.

Yet the sad feeling is that even if it is another triumphant night for a guy who is 36-0 and already has world title belts in four weight classes, it won't be enough to satisfy the glowering kid who sat on the sideline at the MGM Grand Saturday night, stewing over a portrait he didn't want to be part of anyway.

Only in boxing can a decision to allow Gatorade and other sports drinks in the corner lead to a court ruling banning the substances. Sort of. The Nevada State Athletic Commission last week issued new rules to try to ease fatigue and dehydration, problems it fears has led to two ring deaths in the last six months in the state. After a study, a decision was reached that drinks like Gatorade, which replace electrolytes lost during intense physical activity, are not performance-enhancing but do aid in rehydration during a fight. They are used in every other professional sport. Yet Mosley's representatives took the commission to a Nevada court, claiming they had not been aware the rule banning everything but water would be changed in time for his fight with Vargas, who intended to use Gatorade. As things turned out, Vargas could have been using propane and it wouldn't have helped him, but Mosley's people got a temporary restraining order from a judge, who agreed that they should have had notification and that there was a possibility the sticky liquid could get on the gloves and cause a cut. The judge was so concerned about this that the only fighters not allowed to use Gatorade that night were Mosley and Vargas. The World Boxing Council issued a release several days later, saying it was ``shocked to learn that a judge stopped this safety rule from taking effect for the Mosley-Vargas match. Boxing might be coming to the end of the road when we take the sport to court for judges who care about legalities instead of the concern and care of saving [boxers'] lives." Considering all the ills caused by the WBC and the other sanctioning bodies over the years, this seemed a bit disingenuous, but they did have a point; if every other sport allows athletes to use sports drinks to rehydrate, why does it have to become a legal battle in boxing? . . . If you want to get a glimpse of a likely future contender for the middleweight title, tune in to Gatti vs. Carlos Baldomir Saturday night, because on the undercard will be undefeated Giovanni Lorenzo (20-0, 12 KOs). The 25-year-old Dominican faces Bryon Mackie (27-12, 10 KOs), who is no threat to Lorenzo's pursuit of middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. Mackie was stopped by John Duddy last November, so he's a trial horse for guys like Lorenzo, who represented the Dominican Republic at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the same Games in which Taylor competed.

You would think two guys coming off lopsided losses wouldn't be that hard to match, but the struggle goes on to get former light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver into the ring with ex-super middleweight titleholder Jeff Lacy. Lacy's side says Tarver wants all the money. Tarver's side says Lacy is demanding far more than he's worth. The fact is if either of them wants to get paid they need to sign to face each other, because after losing badly to Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe, respectively, Tarver and Lacy have nowhere to go and no one clamoring to see them. Each could make around $3 million if they split the pot. Naturally the older Tarver wants more, but nearly four times more? . . . The Marquez brothers are back on Showtime Aug. 5, when International Boxing Federation bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez defends his title against No. 1 contender Silence Mabuza, while his brother, ex-featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez, fights Terdsak Jandaeng for the interim WBO featherweight crown. The Marquezes are a combined 79-6-1 with 64 knockouts . . . With a month to go before Evander Holyfield returns to the ring, Texas promoter Lester Bedford reports more than 3,000 tickets to Holyfield's fight with journeyman Jeremy Bates have been sold at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, with another 2,400 having been distributed to suite holders. The gate is already more than $300,000, and Holyfield's Real Deal Events company is hoping to approach a million-dollar gate. Top tickets, priced at $200, are already nearly sold out.

On the Ultimate Fighting Championship front, UFC 62 and 63 are set, the latter for Sept. 23, with welterweight champion Chuck Hughes in a rematch vs. No. 1 contender Georges St. Pierre. Nearly two years ago, with a second left in the final round, Hughes had St. Pierre locked in an arm bar that forced him to ``tap out," earning Hughes the vacant welterweight title. They have not met since. UFC 62 will feature the return to the Octagon of light heavyweight champion Chuck Lidell, who will face Brazil's Rentao Sobral in the main event. Liddell has been out since injuring his toe in a KO victory over now-retired Randy Couture in February in a rubber match. If Liddell can beat Sobral, it is expected his next fight would be a much-anticipated showdown with another Brazilian, Wanderlei Silva. Liddell defeated Sobral four years ago, but Sobral is on a 10-fight win streak and won the No. 1 contender's slot by submitting Travis Wiuff. Alongside Liddell-Sobral on the Aug. 26 pay-per-view show from Mandalay Bay will be the second pairing of Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, who faced each other in the Season One finale of the ``Ultimate Fighter" reality show on Spike TV. Griffin won that night, but both fought so well each got contracts from UFC.

Mohegan Sun will host the first of OLN's televised monthly boxing series July 27 when Kelly Pavlik (27-0, 24 KOs) is tested by former WBO junior middleweight champion Bronko McKart (48-6, 31 KOs) in a 12-round fight for the North American Boxing Federation middleweight title. On the same card, undefeated Hartford prospect Mike Oliver (14-0, 7 KOs) faces Jose Hernandez (8-4, 4 KOs). The second televised fight will be super middleweight Anthony Thompson (21-1, 15 KOs) vs. Mohammad Said (17-4-1, 10 KOs).

Correction: Because of a reporting error, the name of the UFC welterweight champion was incorrect in the Boxing Notes in Wednesday's Sports section. The UFC welterweight champ is Matt Hughes. Also, the opponent of UFC fighter Chuck Liddell was incorrect. Liddell will fight Renato Sorbal.