updated 5:40 p.m. ET April 7, 2006

LAS VEGAS - Bob Arum and Don King met on the casino dais, their baffling hairdos nodding in unison while they shook hands with the powerfully phony warmth that only the world’s greatest boxing promoters can create.

Sure, it was a show before the show: These two 74-year-olds, the Harvard-educated lawyer and the archetypal street hustler, were all smiles even though they’ve rarely shared anything, even hairdressing tips. Each has repeatedly accused the other of shady dealings during successful careers in their peculiar profession, and they’ve co-promoted just four fights since 1975.

“We don’t get together much ... but I beat him every time,” said King, recalling victories for Muhammad Ali, Roberto Duran and Felix Trinidad in the promoters’ three previous joint ventures.

But such feelings can be fleeting when there’s serious money to be made — and an interesting, generation-gap-bridging approach to making it.

Arum and King were at Caesars Palace on Thursday with a common cause: Drumming up interest in unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s compelling welterweight title fight against Zab Judah on Saturday night as a summit for the hip-hop generation.

“We’re here to make sure people of all colors realize that boxing is in the ascendancy, and these two fighters are driving the rocket,” King said.

These two senior citizens have examined the cultural ethos surrounding hip-hop music and fashion, and they know this generation doesn’t have the same visceral connection to boxing as its forebears. Arum and King believe it can be rebuilt around charismatic black champions such as Mayweather, Judah, Sugar Shane Mosley and Antonio Tarver.

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When King is asked about hip-hop’s place in boxing, he embarks on a soliloquy that only he could write, declaring himself “the godfather of hip-hop ... just as James Brown is the Godfather of Soul” and throwing in references to George Bernard Shaw, Jay-Z, “P-Daddy” and a song from “The Sound of Music.”

Said King: “This is a fight of an urban nature, and every black man knows that’s when our stars shine the brightest.”

Though Mayweather is widely considered the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighter, he isn’t its biggest draw, with episodes of bad behavior and a lack of epic opposition slowing his rise. Arum, whose Top Rank Inc. promotes Mayweather, believes this fight can be the start of Pretty Boy’s ascension to eminence.

And to make it happen, Arum and King — who promotes Judah, the superbly talented IBF champion coming off an embarrassing loss to Carlos Baldomir — heavily focused their marketing effort on black audiences in radio, television and publications, borrowing a strategy from similar promotions for Latino fighters.

Dozens of black stars of sports and entertainment will be at ringside, and Arum believes black audiences will snatch up the pay-per-view telecast.

“We believed (similar) fights had been wrongly marketed, to some extent,” Arum said during a press conference most notable for King’s bluster and a brief verbal exchange between the fighters while posing for photos. “Urban audiences, African-American audiences weren’t getting the attention they deserved.”

More than 14,000 tickets have been sold at the Thomas and Mack Center, creating a probable sellout for a card also featuring rising lightweight champ Juan Diaz, as well as Jorge Arce’s grudge match with Rosendo Alvarez for the WBC interim flyweight title.

Mayweather and Judah agree they embody two sides of the modern black fighter. Mayweather is a more polished corporate athlete, landing sponsorship deals and enjoying a comfortable lifestyle in Las Vegas while wooing the media and training with ferocity.

Judah often positions himself as a strong-but-silent, hard-scrabble boxer who lives for big moments — and his loss to Baldomir in January wasn’t one of those moments. He stayed quiet Thursday, speaking briefly but mostly glowering behind sunglasses and a hood.

“(Judah) is from Brooklyn. He has that ghetto mentality, and he tries to intimidate fighters,” said DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley, who lost to both Mayweather and Judah earlier in his career, but sparred with Mayweather in preparation for this fight. “He could take it to you in the ring or in the street, and that’s what fans like.”

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