Ring savvy

LAS VEGAS -- There is such a reserve and polish to Oscar De La Hoya that it is easy to forget he beats men senseless for a living. In another time, we would have called him an All-American boy, for his good looks, his politeness, and his successes, the latter of which have made him the most recognizable name in boxing and rich enough perhaps to buy a few city blocks of the East Los Angeles neighborhood where he grew up.

As for Floyd Mayweather Jr., De La Hoya's opponent tomorrow night for the World Boxing Council super welterweight championship, he's not caught up in the aura or public perception of the 34-year-old Golden Boy.

"C'mon, man, that's all fake!" said Mayweather, widely acclaimed as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the game, and equally recognized for running his mouth with the same speed he delivers his deft combinations. "That's all rehearsed, man. You want to call him your champion? Someone wants to interview me, it's not rehearsed. That's all rehearsed over there, all fake."

For the better part of the six months since "The World Awaits" bout was booked -- and, in fact, for years leading up to it -- Mayweather has tried to burn down what De La Hoya has built up. Only Mayweather knows what that is truly all about. But De La Hoya, who trained some six-plus years under Mayweather's father, said he has come to believe through conversations with the elder Mayweather that resentment and jealousy are what fuel his opponent's ire.

"Everybody has their humbling moment in life, I don't care who you are," De La Hoya said yesterday in his customary measured, calm tone. "Come May 5th, I hope it's Mayweather's time."

By all accounts, De La Hoya didn't need this fight, and he certainly didn't need, or appreciate, the incessant trash talking Mayweather mouthed his way during the 11-city prefight tour they staged the last few months. Everywhere they went, Mayweather got in De La Hoya's face, called him names, peppered him with pejoratives.

With jaw clenched, and eyes fixed on his opponent's nose, De La Hoya weathered it all, acknowledging only yesterday, in the bowels of MGM Grand Garden Arena, there were times he wanted to get it over with and smack down Mayweather on the spot.

Tomorrow night, he finally gets his chance -- 12 rounds of chances, if it goes the distance.

"I'm not that much bigger," sized up De La Hoya, who, at 5 feet 10 1/2 inches, holds slightly more than a 2-inch advantage over Mayweather. "For punching power, I can hit harder. And for speed, I can match or even be faster than him."

No matter what his physical pluses and minuses, or his record (38-4, 30 KOs ), De La Hoya has what Mayweather likely will never attain -- almost regal status in what is often a very ugly sport. Because of that, De La Hoya, win or lose, reportedly will take upward of $30 million for this fight.

Mayweather (37-0, 24 KOs), who is the far hotter hand and the favorite, will bank about one-third of that. It doesn't really matter what Mayweather thinks of De La Hoya. It's what the public thinks. And dating to his gold medal triumph for the United States in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, the public has bought De La Hoya over and over and over again. He needs no other proof than the monster payday that awaits him now, despite the fact he has lost two of his last four bouts and has only fought once in the last 2 1/2 years.

"I took this fight to prove to myself that I can still do this with the best," said De La Hoya, noting, too, that it will heighten boxing's overall profile for a night, good for the sport and good for his expanding promotional business. "Most of all, it was about proving it to myself."

He has been at this proving thing a long time, dating to his elementary school days in East LA, when De La Hoya and his brother Joel were introduced to the sport by their father, Joel Sr., a Mexican immigrant who worked as a warehouse clerk in a local heating and plumbing company. The boys' mother, Cecilia, was a seamstress, and her failed battle against cancer became the focal point of Oscar's mission to win Olympic gold. If the TV catches him looking toward the heavens tomorrow night, be it before or after the bout, De La Hoya likely will be paying silent tribute to his late mother.

Joel Jr. was supposed to be the fighter in the family, following in his father's footsteps, but it was the younger Oscar who soon commanded the spotlight when he first began to work out at Pico Rivera Sports Arena. Some 28 years later, De La Hoya is among the richest men to lace up gloves, codirecting a multimillion-dollar business empire with partner Richard Schaefer, a former Swiss banker he first met on a golf course nearly a decade ago. Today, land development and mining the fight game are the main thrusts of the business.

Mayweather reiterated yesterday this will be his final fight, a proclamation so often uttered in the fight game it garners little attention. "I'm through fighting, man," said Mayweather, saying he wants to promote fighters and recording artists in his after-ring life. De La Hoya has already constructed his after-ring life, and according to Schaefer, his future in the ring could be linked to tomorrow night's result.

"I really don't know what will happen," said Schaefer. "He'll look at his performance and decide, 'Is it time to quit?' "

Among De La Hoya's options, said Schaefer, would be to stage bouts around the world, fighting before huge crowds in Mexico, perhaps Asia. If so, as Schaefer noted, the marketability of the fight would not be the quality of the matchup as much as the fight itself. He could be right. And no other boxer today -- in part due to the lack of a dominant heavyweight -- could think to make that calculation. Mayweather, despite his best pound-for-pound résumé, doesn't offer that platform.

"For Mayweather, I think this is a legacy fight," said Schaefer. "Oscar's legacy is already established. Everything . . . from the Olympics forward, his legacy has been established."

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com.