By Keith Idec

NEW YORK — Sergio Martinez’s adviser took the opportunity during a news conference Thursday to warn Gennady Golovkin about Curtis Stevens.

“And trust me, G.G., watch out,” said Sampson Lewkowicz, who also promotes Russian heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov, scheduled to participate in HBO’s co-featured fight Saturday night in The Theater at Madison Square Garden. “Because you have a fight on your hands. I know this young man. So don’t think this is an easy one, a walk through the park.”

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Golovkin’s trainer doesn’t think we’ll ever see a press conference in which Lewkowicz warns Golovkin about Martinez. In fact, Abel Sanchez is so certain Martinez won’t ever face Golovkin in a middleweight title unification fight he spoke openly about a possible Martinez-Miguel Cotto clash.

“I think the furthest thing from Sergio’s mind is Golovkin,” Sanchez said. “Golovkin is a 60-pounder and I think Sergio now, at this stage of his career, with his age and his body breaking down, he’s looking for a smaller guy. And I think Cotto-Martinez is a great fight for the boxing public. So I don’t envision our name being mentioned again in regard to Martinez.”

The 38-year-old Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KOs) is recovering from hand and knee injuries sustained during his last fight, an unimpressive unanimous decision victory over England’s Martin Murray (25-1-1, 11 KOs) in a 12-rounder April 27 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentine southpaw’s return to the ring could come against Puerto Rico’s Cotto (38-4, 31 KOs) sometime in the first half of 2014.

If the heavily favored Golovkin (27-0, 24 KOs) defeats Stevens (25-3, 18 KOs) in their HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event Saturday night, his handlers again could encounter difficulty securing a 160-pound opponent worth fighting. Meanwhile, the unbeaten Abdusalamov (18-0, 18 KOs) will help open HBO’s broadcast at 10 p.m. ET/PT in a 10-round heavyweight fight against Cuban-born Mike Perez (19-0, 12 KOs).

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.