By Robert Lowe
Shane Cameron has too much respect for Australian Danny Green to indulge in boxing's ritual pre-fight trash talk.
But he shows no similar restraint when predicting he'll knock Green out when the pair square off for the vacant IBO world cruiserweight title in Melbourne on November 21.
"I respect the man highly," Cameron said on Monday.
"There's not going to be a lot of trash talking on this fight, but there's going to be a lot of confidence.
"He's very confident he can knock me out. I feel the same way for him. I'm going to knock him out, put him to sleep."
Cameron, 34, will have to drop from his optimum fighting weight of around 97kg to make the 90.7kg limit for the division.
That means he won't have the same power as when he spectacularly sent American Monte Barrett to the canvas in a heavyweight contest in Auckland in July to improve his record to 29-2.
But having fought three times as a cruiserweight in the past two years, he's learnt lessons about how to go about shedding the kilos.
"Naturally, I'm not going to be as strong as when I fought Barrett," he said.
"But look what I did in the Commonwealth title," he added in reference to his 12th round stoppage of Australian Dominic Vaea last year.
There'll still be power there, but he had to be realistic.
"It's not going to be there like a heavyweight," he said.
"But I'm still going to be the bigger, stronger guy on the night."
While Cameron is realising his dream of a shot at a world title, the 39-year-old Green, who has a 32-5 record, is aiming to be a world champion for the fourth time.
At a press conference in Auckland, the Cameron camp showed off the belts their man has won.
Manager Ken Reinsfield said the aim was to give a visual representation of the long road the Gisborne-born "Mountain Warrior" had travelled.
"There's no such thing as overnight success," Reinsfield said.
"It's been 10 years of hard grind and hard work."
NZN