If Jeff Horn walks out to a chorus of boos at Madison Square Garden on April 14, his promoter Dean Lonergan is confident that his boxer will not be affected.

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.

Contracts for Horn's New York City fight haven't been signed yet but after a verbal agreement the bout should be made official within a fortnight.

Few give Horn any chance against Crawford, who is unbeaten in 32 bouts and regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound boxers on the planet after cleaning out the super lightweight division - but Lonergan does.

"Every fighter that comes in to fight Jeff Horn says the same thing - he's not that good, I'm going to beat him, I'm going to do this," he said.

"Well, noone has managed to silence him yet and I don't think Terence Crawford can do it either.

"He ain't no superman.

"I don't think Terence Crawford is going to be happy with the outcome of this fight and he's going to regret coming up a weight division."

While the 29-year-old Queenslander 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.

As previously reported on BoxingScene.com, Lonergan believes it all traces back to Teddy 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 dumped from his role as a ringside analyst by ESPN.

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."