By Keith Idec

NEW YORK – John David Jackson doesn’t see anything that should make David Lemieux such a decided favorite over Curtis Stevens.

Jackson, the former two-division champion who trains Stevens, considers Lemieux very beatable entering their 12-round middleweight match Saturday night. He admits Lemieux’s power is impressive, but Jackson doesn’t think much of the rest of Lemieux’s game, certainly not enough to worry that he’ll defeat Stevens in their HBO “Boxing After Dark” main event at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

“I think he’s a decent fighter,” Jackson told reporters regarding Lemieux this week at a Manhattan restaurant. “He has good power. Boxing skill is limited. And when I say that, it’s not that he can’t box. But at the top-notch level, he’s not that fighter. If you watch him, he crowds everybody, just punches wide shots. Everything is wide with him. Nothing is straight. It’s all looping shots. He has no inside boxing game whatsoever.

“He just loops everything. So he’s a decent fighter. By today’s fighter’s standards, he’s good. If he was back in the 60s, 50s, and 70s, no. He would be crap. But by today’s standards, he’s a good fighter. So I give him that. But he’s not everything that he thinks he is or everything he’s made out to be with the Canadian press. Come Saturday night, once Curtis touches him a few times, he’ll see and then we’ll see.”

Several Internet sports books list Montreal’s Lemieux (36-3, 32 KOs) as a 4-1 favorite against Brooklyn’s Stevens (29-5, 21 KOs). Jackson, who’ll work Stevens’ corner for the third time Saturday night, considers Stevens a better boxer whose skills will be the difference during a bout between two powerful punchers.

“Curtis is a hell of a boxer,” Jackson said. “He showed me that in the gym and I said, ‘You need to box more. It makes you a better fighter. Why always try to knock a guy out? Use your skill that God blessed you with.’ And he’s doing that now. He’s a better fighter now. And in this fight here, I think he’s gonna showcase that.”

HBO’s doubleheader will begin at 11 p.m. ET on Saturday night. In the opening bout, Cuban junior lightweight contender Yuriorkis Gamboa (25-1, 17 KOs) and Nicaragua’s Rene Alvarado (24-7, 16 KOs) are set to square off in a 10-rounder.

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