By Keith Idec

Jarrett Hurd expects to put on a “spectacular performance” against Austin Trout.

If that happens Saturday night, and Hurd defends his IBF junior middleweight title, he wants to challenge an even better southpaw in his following fight. Hurd also expects Erislandy Lara to win in the main event Saturday night at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, which he hopes leads to a 154-pound championship unification fight between them.

“I wanna fight Erislandy Lara,” Hurd told BoxingScene.com. “I wanna fight the best of the best. Like I said, I feel like I’m the best and I just can’t wait until Saturday because I know how good of a performance I’m gonna put on. It’s gonna be a spectacular performance. I’ve got so much confidence and belief in my abilities and what I can do, I just can’t wait for the world to see it.

“They’re saying that Erislandy Lara is the toughest one in the division, so I wanna go straight for him, man. Because I feel like I can beat Erislandy Lara. There’s not anything too spectacular [about him], so it’s not like nothing I’ve never seen before. Don’t get me wrong, he’s great. He’s got good footwork, but it’s something that I’ve seen before. That’s why I feel like I want a fight with Erislandy Lara.”

The 12-round bout between Hurd (20-0, 14 KOs), of Accokeek, Maryland, and Trout (30-3, 17 KOs), a former WBA super welterweight champion from Las Cruces, New Mexico, will open Showtime’s tripleheader Saturday night (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).

Cuba’s Lara (24-2-2, 14 KOs) is set to defend his WBA and IBO 154-pound titles in the main event against Cleveland’s Terrell Gausha (20-0, 9 KOs). In between those two fights, Houston’s Jermell Charlo (29-0, 14 KOs) and Erickson Lubin (18-0, 13 KOs), of Orlando, Florida, will square off in a 12-round fight Charlo’s WBC super welterweight title.

Hurd considers Charlo-Lubin a close call, but can’t see Lara losing to Gausha.

“Out of all the fights this weekend,” Hurd said, “I feel like he has the biggest advantage over his opponent.”

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