Camacho Jr. scores big KO

Dean Juipe

Monday, June 19, 2000 | 9:43 a.m.

He's stronger than his father and at least as quick.

In other words, Hector Camacho Jr. may be in for a stellar boxing career.

The younger Camacho -- who has traces of his dad's style but maybe only a few of his personality quirks -- was on display Sunday at Regent Las Vegas and unleashed a laser-like left hand in cutting short his scheduled 12-round fight with Manard Reed. Smacking Reed at will with solid lefts and ending the fight with a blast to the chin in the fourth, Camacho sampled life as a main-event fighter in Las Vegas and found it to his liking.

An equally receptive crowd that approached 2,000 -- as well as a national TV audience -- made it an ideal setting for Camacho's coming out party. He looked good and the fans appreciated it.

"I'm happy," he said afterward, although his polished smile spoke for itself. "Las Vegas is the fight capital. I like it here."

After a standoffish opening round, Camacho realized he could tag Reed with his left and he became downright repetitive about it. It was as if Reed hadn't seen a southpaw, or at least one with this kind of speed and fury.

"He actually felt those punches," Camacho said, and there was no bragging about it. When Reed went down and out at 1:45 of the fourth, it looked for a few moments as if he would require a medic and/or a stretcher to find his way out.

"I was waiting to land that one, measured shot," Camacho said of the decisive left that sealed the outcome. "He was a good fighter but he didn't move enough. I guess he was intimidated; I saw it in his eye."

Reed came into the fight 20-1 but it was a record built in the Southeast and Midwest, where the tradesmen aren't always of the highest order. In facing Camacho, he was taking on a likely future world champion who is the son of a former world champion.

Camacho, 21, raised his record to 28-0 with 17 knockouts and stamped himself as a potential force whether he stays at 140 pounds or retreats to 135, as he is considering.

He'll fight again July 29 in Phoenix beneath the Kostya Tszyu vs. Julio Cesar Chavez main event, and former world champion Vince Phillips is among three possible opponents. Phillips, of Las Vegas, watched the Camacho-Reed fight and said he could make 140 and would take the bout if America Presents -- which handles Camacho -- comes up from its initial $30,000 offer.

Camacho was paid $25,000 to give Reed a taste of the big time and he came through the fight unscathed.

"I had him off balance all night," Camacho said. "I came prepared because I knew he'd be ready and would be looking for a knockout. But I used my advantages and when I saw the opening I let him have it."

Reed was also down in the third round and was saved, to some extent, by the bell. But Camacho put him away in the fourth, making good on a promise he had made the night before when talking to his father in Toronto.

"I'm satisfied," Camacho said. "I wanted it to be an early night and it was."

Also on the Father's Day card were a pair of women's fights of some interest, as the daughters of two former heavyweight champions made their professional debuts.

The best that can be said for Freeda (George) Foreman is that she won, as her "fight" with fellow novice LaQuanda Landers may have been the worst in recorded history. It mercifully ended at 1:44 of the second round when Foreman dispatched her opponent with a willowy punch that personified the slow-motion bout.

The other women's feature was just the opposite, as Maria (Ingemar) Johansson and Karrie Frye had a competitive battle that went Frye's way by split decision. She had Johansson down and bleeding, and raised her record to 5-1 at the would-be protege's expense.

For what it's worth, both Frye and Johansson would defeat Foreman with ease.