29.11.07 Floyd "I'm not a bad guy"

Floyd Mayweather is eager to ditch his image as boxing's bad guy in the final run-up to his WBC welterweight title showdown with Ricky Hatton in Las Vegas next week.

Despite his startling skills, Mayweather's constant 'trash-talking' has alienated many fans worldwide, while doing the so-called 'Pretty Boy' no harm at the box office.

Now with Mayweather set to become the first boxer in history to attract more than one million pay-per-view buys for two fights in the same calendar year, he wishes he was judged more favourably.

Mayweather said: "Everybody is entitled to judge a person how they want to do - but I've got a good heart. I never did anything illegal and all I did was go out there to dedicate myself to the craft of boxing.

"People portray you as they want to portray you. But I conduct myself like a gentleman. I'm not out there pushing Ricky Hatton off the stage or shoving him. I'm just saying I believe in my skills.

"Each fight has to have a good guy and a bad guy. When I fought Oscar De La Hoya I was the bad guy, but when I fought Zab Judah I was the good guy - because he was even worse than I was.

"That's the hand you're dealt and you have to deal with it. You fight through everything. Everything is a struggle - but you don't let anything break your confidence and just stay focused and just be you."

Mayweather's stage-managed public persona certainly differs a lot from the personable and intelligent man who is only to happy to fulfil his exhausting media relations schedules.

There is the sense his frequent dismissals of Hatton's chances on December 8 are founded more in his own astonishing self-confidence than any criticism he has of the Manchester 'Hit Man' in particular.

"I don't overlook any of my opponents," added Mayweather.

"I always approach every fight in a great manner and I am always pushing myself to the limit and trying to get the best out of Floyd Mayweather.

"I'll continue to do that. I always train hard and I dedicate myself - so that in 20 years' time when my grandkids read stories about me they'll know that I was one hell of a good fighter."

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