If Jeff Horn walks out to a chorus of boos at Madison Square Garden on April 14, his promoter Dean Lonergan will know who to blame - veteran broadcast analyst and former trainer Teddy Atlas.
Horn is braced for a vicious reception when he defends his WBO welterweight championship against mandatory challenger Terence Crawford in what will be his first professional fight outside Australia and New Zealand.
While the 29-year-old is a hero at home, US boxing fans oddly seem to have it in for him.
A quick glance at social media or boxing message boards reveals a confronting level of hatred for Horn, a mild-mannered former schoolteacher who does not engage in typical boxing trash talk.
Lonergan believes it all traces back to Atlas' "biased" commentary of Horn's controversial win over Manny Pacquiao last July for ESPN.
Atlas claimed Pacquiao was robbed and told Horn to his face after the fight that he thought he should have lost.
In December, Atlas was removed from his role as a ringside analyst by ESPN - after numerous incidents, including the verbal beating his gave Horn during a post-fight interview and his on-air argument with new-hire Mark Kriegal, who appears to be Atlas' replacement for their boxing cards.
Lonergan said he coloured American perceptions of Horn.
"The reason why I think American boxing fans are against Jeff Horn is because you had a very biased commentary coming from Teddy Atlas," Lonergan said.
"I think Teddy Atlas got his just desserts for the way he carried on in that Pacquiao fight and particularly the disrespect he showed to Jeff Horn after the fight.
"I hope Teddy Atlas doesn't get another job in boxing when it comes to commentary and certainly not on a Jeff Horn fight - I'd be fighting hard for him to never do it, but I don't have to worry about it, because ESPN agrees with me and sacked him."