By Keith Idec

Jarrett Hurd hasn’t reacted to any of the predictions Erislandy Lara has made during the promotion of their fight Saturday night.

The Cuban southpaw has warned that he’ll knock out Hurd if the unbeaten IBF junior middleweight champion is as reckless defensively against him as Hurd was when Hurd became the first fighter to stop Austin Trout in his last bout.

Lara also promised that he would “ruin” the 27-year-old Hurd’s career if Hurd aggressively comes after him the way Alfredo Angulo did before Lara stopped him in the 10th round of their 154-pound title fight in June 2013.

Hurd has taken all of Lara’s assurances as further proof that the IBO/WBA super welterweight champion is very concerned about their 154-pound title unification fight in Las Vegas. The 6-feet-1 Hurd (21-0, 15 KOs) stands four inches taller than Lara and figures to out-weigh him by a significant amount when their bout begins at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (Showtime).

“He talks that way, but I know Lara and them are worried,” Hurd told BoxingScene.com. “I can tell by the way they’re going about this whole fight. When we were at the Wilder-Ortiz fight in New York [on March 3], his manager comes up talking to my trainer, trying to get input, trying to get inside [information], why we’ve got this and that going on, what we’re doing. Then we would be down in the gym training and they’ll talk to my trainer. Because, you know, my trainer also speaks Spanish. So they’re talking to my trainer, trying to get this info. They’re worried, man.”

The 34-year-old Lara (25-2-2, 14 KOs) has faced a much higher level of opposition than Hurd and is listed as a slight favorite (-120/+100). Lara’s lone losses were a controversial split-decision defeat to Canelo Alvarez in July 2014 and a maligned majority-decision defeat to Paul Williams in July 2011.

Their contrasting competition aside, Hurd sensed nervousness from Lara when they went face-to-face for Showtime’s “Upfront” promotional event 2½ months ago in New York.

“Even when I was facing off with Lara, I was looking and he was almost shaking because he was so nervous,” Hurd said. “No matter what they say, I know they’re worried. They’re wondering why I’m not feeding into anything that they’re doing, why I’m so confident. They’re worried. They can say anything and try to play the tough guy role, that they’re not worried. But in the back of their minds, they don’t know what I’ve got up my sleeve. So they’re definitely worried.”

Hurd, of Accokeek, Maryland, and Houston’s Lara will headline a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader Saturday night.

The telecast is scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT with a 12-round IBF junior middleweight elimination match that’ll pit Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (24-1-1, 15 KOs, 1 NC) against Nathaniel Gallimore (20-1-1, 17 KOs), of Evanston, Illinois. The second bout is a 12-round rematch between newly crowned IBF super middleweight champ Caleb Truax (29-3-2, 18 KOs), of Osseo, Minnesota, and England’s James DeGale (23-2-1, 14 KOs).

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.