Light-middleweight foes Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout have wasted no time in exchanging verbal blows ahead of their crunch world title showdown in New York this weekend.

The pair needed no invitations to stoke the flames with 30-year-old Cuban Lara blasting his American foe as they came to face-to-face before Saturday's clash at the barclays Centre in Brooklyn.

"Austin Trout is an OK fighter. There's nothing special about him. I feel that he's on his way out. He had his time and I'm going to prove that," said Lara.

"As far as having a heart, you know, let's see in the ring. I'll show him in the ring who has a heart or not and we'll decide then.

"My job is to first beat Austin Trout and then after that all the other doors are going to open up and I'll take on all-comers. Right now I'm just focused on this fight and I'm focused on busting up Austin Trout's mouth."

Lara was also less than complimentary when asked to compare Trout to former opponent Paul Williams, who handed him his lone defeat back in 2011.

"The big difference between Paul Williams and Austin Trout is that Paul Williams has balls," mocked Lara.

"He was a fighter that would attack you and he was aggressive and he would come at you and he knew how to box as well. With Austin Trout, he's just a guy that runs - he's a fighter that runs."

Former WBA light-middleweight world champion Trout will have a chance to win back his former belt when he goes in against Lara for the vacant title, but he was equally disparaging when assessing his weekend opponent.

"Somebody has got to get rid of this guy and I'm happy to be the one to do it. I feel like I'm the only one that can do it, so it's really honourable to be able to get in there and get my belt back at the same time," said Trout.

"He's a different calibre of fighter and a different breed and I'm going to make him look like the amateur he is.

"But you know me, I'll take all-comers and for him to say I don't have any balls, he's never watched me fight, which is fine. He can sleepwalk if he wants to.

"Have you ever seen me run in a fight as opposed to Erislandy Lara? That's all he does in the ring, so I mean, he's just talking. I'm not a runner; I box, but I don't run. And I like to fight, which you can't say about him. If you watch my fights you'll see, I don't run."