Junior lightweights trade put-downs, try to gain upper hand

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

There are no language barriers when it comes to the art of intimidation.

Despite the fact one speaks Spanish and the other Portuguese and that each needs a translator to understand the other, Joel Casamayor and Acelino Freitas have found a way to get under each other's skin.

Casamayor, the World Boxing Association champion at 130 pounds, is bringing an element of hostility into his Saturday fight at the Cox Pavilion with Freitas, and the latter has decided to respond in kind.

Talking Tuesday during a conference call from their separate training camps in California, both men -- but especially Casamayor -- mixed an element of ridicule into their remarks.

For Casamayor, it was a continuation of a campaign he seems to have launched in which the primary goal is to demean his equally respected rival.

"I can see in his eyes that he's afraid of me," Casamayor said, although the fighters have spent very little time together thus far. "That shows me he's not the man he thinks he is."

Casamayor, 30, a former Olympic gold medalist from Cuba, is 26-0 with 16 knockouts as a pro and is a minus 140 betting favorite.

Freitas, 26, of Brazil, is 30-0 with an eye-catching 29 KOs and is a plus 110 underdog.

"This should be the easiest fight of my career," Casamayor said in a potentially haunting remark, given Freitas' knockout record. "I'm not worried about his power. He's a strong fighter but I'm an intelligent fighter and I've got a lot of power.

"I'm going after him."

Which Freitas says is just fine with him.

"I want Casamayor to keep thinking whatever he wants to think," Freitas said. "Even if he's at his best, he won't last five rounds with me. He's probably going to run for two or three rounds, but when he stops I'll get him.

"This fight is mine."

Freitas would rather not have been drawn into a war of words with Casamayor and isn't sure why it had to happen.

"He's got the right to speak ... but if he wants to be a respected champion he should do his talking in the ring," Freitas said. "I'm very humble. I don't say negative things about Casamayor in the press and I respect him as a person.

"I'll speak in the ring."

But Casamayor is of the belief that Freitas has been talking out of turn, or so he said after a workout last Friday in which the quotes were distributed to various members of the media.

"This fight has become personal," he said. "Freitas will not say anything bad about me to my face, but I know he talks trash about me to his camp and friends.

"I think he is scared. When we are together he never looks me in the eye.

"I cannot wait to take care of him in the ring. He's going to pay the price for a big mouth."

Casamayor, who has been the WBA champion for 30 months and has been sparring with ex-champ Roberto Garcia, insists Freitas is not the test or threat many perceive him to be.

"Look at who he has fought," Casamayor said. "They never talk about what a great fighter he is. I do not look at this as the defining fight in my career, but just the next step.

"I want to win this fight impressively ... and by the sixth or seventh round it should be over."

Freitas, who had his streak of 29 consecutive knockouts stopped in his most recent bout when Alfred Kotey took him the distance, said he is the one who will emerge with a victory that will answer any doubts about him.

"People in this country don't know me or my talent that much," he said. "But I have full confidence in myself and I'm anxious for the fight.

"I've got a clear head and this is the perfect time and right place to show people what I've got."