Leonard Ellerbe

Reporting from Las Vegas -- Shane Mosley weighed in at the welterweight limit 147 pounds, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. weighed 146 Friday as the fighters appeared before a national television audience and a crowd of thousands at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, where they'll square off Saturday night. Of course, it was the extracurricular activities and opinions that captured most of the interest. Mosley's trainer Naazim Richardson and Mayweather assistant trainer Nate Jones argued on stage.

LAS VEGAS -- Floyd Mayweather Jr. has a two-fight streak of involving himself in mega-bouts that have helped lead a renaissance of sorts for boxing. While a showdown with fellow unbeaten welterweight champion Miguel Cotto would keep that super-fight momentum running, some of the sport's old matchmaking obstacles have emerged.

If you think World Boxing Council welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir will successfully defend his title against Floyd Mayweather tonight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, the odds are: A.) You're from Argentina. B.) You like to bet on underdogs. C.) You've never seen Mayweather fight. D.) You don't know much about boxing. Emanuel Steward, one of the most respected trainers in boxing, is none of the above.

Certainly, the bows to the record-setting Staples Center crowd were a treat, but it was minutes later in a quieter celebration that Shane Mosley received what qualified as the best ovation of all. His beaming promoter, Richard Schaefer, hugged Mosley and whispered into his ear: "I will start having conversations with Team Mayweather tomorrow morning," Schaefer said.

As a combined guarantee of at least $50 million vanishes from what was expected to be the most lucrative bout in boxing history, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao voiced their differences Thursday, a day after the fight was declared to be off by Pacquiao's promoter. Mayweather released a statement pointing to Pacquiao as the one holding up the planned March 13 mega-fight and declaring, "I am ready to fight and sign the contract. Manny needs to stop making excuses, step up and fight."

Boxing fans are on edge these days, not unlike your 6-year-old in the back seat on a long trip. "How many more miles, Daddy? Are we there yet?" Actually, we are four days from Oscar De La Hoya versus Manny Pacquiao and several years from knowing how the sport will weather the immediate future against the competitive onslaught of mixed martial arts. De La Hoya-Pacquiao will be a good gauge.

"Sugar" Shane Mosley says he's saved the best for the last years of his career, and he applied the same formula on Ricardo Mayorga Saturday night. Mosley knocked out Mayorga with one second remaining in their 12-round non-title super-welterweight fight at Home Depot Center in Carson, landing a devastating left hook on Mayorga's jaw that came only seconds after he had sent Mayorga to the canvas with a three-punch combination highlighted by a stiff left hook.

Making sense of Floyd Mayweather Jr. is not an easy task, but meeting him in the gym is a good place to start. "The reason you see him in here all the time, that comes from growing up having a rough life," Mayweather's close friend and assistant trainer Nate Jones said recently, standing atop the canvas in the boxer's private gym northwest of the Las Vegas Strip. "Life was unstable at his home. So coming in the gym, boxing, made him feel at home. At peace." There's little peace around Mayweather, 33, who'll put his 40-0 record on the line Saturday night in a welterweight bout against Pomona's Shane Mosley at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Minutes before Manny Pacquiao decked Ricky Hatton in May, Pacquiao's business manager grabbed a ringside chair. The small talk was that morning's surprise comeback announcement by Floyd Mayweather Jr., who had "retired" a year earlier while atop the pound-for-pound rankings with a 39-0 record -- perfection enhanced in 2007 by a victory over Oscar De La Hoya in boxing's most lucrative event ever. "Mayweather just shot himself in the head," Pacquiao's business manager, Michael Koncz, assessed.