Lightweight Jerry Belmontes said he "beat the crap out of" WBC lightweight titleholder Omar Figueroa Jr. and "made him cry" when they were amateurs, adding that he intends to do so again when they meet in the opening bout of a Showtime-televised tripleheader on April 26 at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.

In an earlier interview with RingTV.com, the 24-year-old Figueroa (22-0-1, 17 knockouts) said he will "be looking for payback" against Belmontes (19-3, 5 KOs), whom Figueroa said had "beaten me three times from when we were in the amateurs."

The 25-year-old Belmontes was more emphatic in his description of their meetings, which Figueroa said took place when "I was like 11, 12 years old." Figueroa is from Weslaco, Texas, and Belmontes, Corpus Christi, Texas.

"I remember beating his ass five times actually. I guess that the last two times, I punished him because I stopped him the last two times we fought," said Belmontes, who, at 5-foot-9, is one-and-a-half inches taller than Figueroa.

"I guess that he doesn't remember those two but I've got the book that shows it and it says that I beat him five times. I mean, I beat the crap out of him. The last time, I made him cry. I stopped him in the third round and I made him cry."

Belmontes will be in the opening bout of a card headlined by welterweight boxer-puncher Keith "One Time" Thurman against two-time lightweight titlewinner Julio Diaz and THE RING's number one-rated junior welterweight Lucas Matthysse opposite rugged lightweight puncher John Molina.

"This fight can be a good fight because he's a good, aggressive fighter," said Belmontes of Figueroa, who won his belt against Nihito Arakawa, flooring the Japanese veteran twice during a unanimous decision last July.

"But he hasn't really fought anybody with my talent level or with the kind of talent that I have. He's fought everybody who comes forward and stay right there and they like to get hit. But I'm going to show him what a real boxing lesson is."

Managed by 27-year-old Adrian Clark, Belmontes upset previously unbeaten Will Tomlinson of Australia in the latter's U.S. debut on March 8.

"That was a big fight for me against Tomlinson. That was a great opportunity for me and I took full advantage of it. I got six weeks in of work and I trained really hard," said Belmontes, who is 2-3 in his past five fights.

"I've told everybody that when I'm in shape and at 100 percent, nobody at 130 or at 135 can beat me and I'm going to prove that again on April 26 against Omar Figueroa too. I'm going to beat the s–t out of Omar."