PECHANGA INDIAN RESERVATION, Calif. -- Vernon Forrest is a patient boxer who rarely does anything spectacular but always wins.

Ricardo Mayorga is the opposite -- a brash big puncher who lives for the moment and even enjoys a beer and a smoke after a fight.

About the only thing they have in common is that they both punch other people for a living and both hold a piece of the 147-pound title.

That will change Saturday night when Forrest meets Mayorga in a welterweight unification fight that has a tantalizing boxer-puncher matchup and an air of unpredictability.

The 31-year-old Forrest is a rising star with two wins over Shane Mosley and is fighting the first fight of a lucrative HBO contract that could eventually put him in the mix for a megafight with Oscar De La Hoya.

Mayorga, 29, is the outsider trying to crash the party, a Nicaraguan who hits hard but approaches the art of boxing with the same attitude he approaches life -- straight on.

"I plan to whip him like a man whips a boy,'' Mayorga said.

Oddsmakers don't figure that's likely, making Forrest a 6-1 favorite to add Mayorga's WBA title to the WBC crown he won last January against Mosley.

Neither does Forrest, who spent the better part of a decade chasing a pro title after losing in the first round of the 1992 Olympics.

"I'm the best welterweight in the world at this particular moment,'' Forrest said. "I'm planning on unifying the title and then going on.''

The scheduled 12-round Super Bowl Eve fight from the Pechanga casino north of San Diego will be televised on HBO, beginning about 10 p.m. ET.

Forrest (35-0, 26 knockouts) is taking a chance of sorts in trying to win another title in his first fight since beating Mosley in their rematch in July. He could have taken on a lesser fighter, but after 10 years of little recognition he's eager to get people to pay attention.

"When I was an Olympian, I felt as though it was the same thing as being a lottery pick as a basketball player,'' Forrest said. "But for whatever reason, my career didn't take off like I thought it would.''

That's partly because Forrest wasn't around long enough at the Barcelona Games to get anyone's attention. He watched as Oscar De La Hoya won a gold medal and went on his way to fame and fortune.

He doesn't begrudge De La Hoya anything.

"He earned everything he's gotten. He fought the best out there,'' Forrest said. "How can anyone be jealous of anyone out there taking that risk?''

Forrest, who beat Mosley to get on the 1992 Olympic team, took advantage once he got the opportunity when he knocked Mosley down twice in the second round and won a lopsided decision a year ago in New York.

Forrest came back in July to beat him in a lackluster rematch to show that the first victory was no fluke.

Forrest is starting to get the million-dollar paydays, but he knows he must score some spectacular wins to get on De La Hoya's radar as a fight he might like to have at 154 pounds.

"I need to get my exposure up, so when that fight does come we have some bargaining leverage,'' he said. "He's a proven pay-per-view draw, and right now he would be dictating the terms.''

Mayorga doesn't have such lofty concerns. He's just happy to be fighting in the United States, a place he had never been until two years ago.

"I'm happy-go-lucky and enjoying the life I have right now in the United States,'' he said.

That life took a change for the better last March when Mayorga, fighting for only the third time in the United States, stopped Andrew "Six Heads'' Lewis in the fifth round to win the WBA version of the welterweight title.

After the fight, Mayorga (24-3-1, 22 knockouts) appeared at the press conference with a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other.

"He's a fun guy to be with,'' said his cornerman and interpreter Hector Perez. "You ought to try being around him training for two months.''

Mayorga, who lives in Costa Rica, wasn't overwhelmed by his title fights with Lewis. He doesn't appear to be bothered by what is at stake should he upset Forrest and win another title.

"The only way I found out who Forrest is was when he beat Mosley,'' Mayorga said. "Now he's fighting Ricardo Mayorga. Now people will know who Ricardo Mayorga is.''