Castillejo takes jabs at Oscar

Dean Juipe

Thursday, May 24, 2001 | 10:15 a.m.

While their press conference in Los Angeles was mostly an exchange of pleasantries, Javier Castillejo did use the opportunity to test Oscar De La Hoya with at least a couple of verbal jabs.

Using a mixture of bravado and opinion, Castillejo targeted De La Hoya's extracurricular activities as a reason he may upset the Golden Boy when they meet June 23 at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.

"I don't want to get personal," Castillejo said in remarks published in the Riverside Press-Enterprise. "But his head is not in boxing.

"Besides, he has personal problems. He has many girlfriends, but I have only one."

Castillejo, the World Boxing Council junior middleweight champion, is married with two children. He's also 51-4 with 34 knockouts, has won all six of his world-title fights and hasn't lost since 1996.

Included in that run are 14 victories, 11 by knockout.

De La Hoya is 33-2 with 27 KOs.

"I'm faster than he is," Castillejo claimed. "I'm stronger than he is. And I'm more handsome than him."

Spain's first world champion in 21 years claimed the WBC title with a decision over Keith Mullings and is coming off an Oct. 21 KO-4 victory over Javier Martinez.

Castillejo and De La Hoya broke from training to meet in Los Angeles last week and plug their pay-per-view bout. Tickets, priced from $100 to $800, have gone on sale at the MGM and via TicketMaster.

De La Hoya will be attempting to win a world title in a fifth weight class, which would achieve one of his many goals.

"It's a big deal," he said, adding that he eventually would like to move up to 160 pounds.

But fighting at 154 may be challenging enough, although De La Hoya's trainer, Floyd Mayweather, scoffs at the possibility his man will be derailed.

"What I'm teaching Oscar, he wouldn't learn in 10 years with another trainer," Mayweather boasted. "He was already one of the best fighters in the world; now he is going to be even better."

As for Castillejo, Mayweather examined the champion and offered this halfhearted endorsement: "He looks like he'll last a little while."

De La Hoya also mentioned his desire to avenge his losses to Felix Trinidad and Shane Mosley, saying "I'm the only one who can beat those guys." Yet preliminary negotiations have already begun for what may be his next fight, assuming he gets past Castillejo, and that opponent would be former 154-pound champ Fernando Vargas.