LAS VEGAS – Teofimo Lopez Sr. can’t envision Vasiliy Lomachenko lasting halfway through a scheduled 12-round fight against his son.

The elder Lopez predicted that the hard-hitting IBF lightweight champion will knock out Lomachenko before they reach the midway mark of their lightweight title unification fight Saturday night at MGM Grand Conference Center. Lopez Sr., who trains his son, considers the skillful Ukrainian southpaw predictable, which he thinks will lead to Lomachenko’s demise in their main event at MGM Grand Conference Center.

“We’re gonna see on Saturday how fast [Teofimo] adapts,” Lopez Sr. told BoxingScene.com. “I think he will adapt right away because Lomachenko does the same thing over and over again. And he’s gonna fall into [Teofimo’s] traps and we’re gonna knock him out. This fight is not lasting six rounds. It’s not gonna go past six rounds.”

Lopez’s extremely confident father even suggested his son will brutally level Lomachenko in a devastating manner resembling his first-round knockout of Mason Menard. Brooklyn’s Lopez pulverized Menard with an overhand right that left a temporarily unconscious Menard face-down on the canvas less than a minute into their scheduled 10-round bout in December 2018 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater in New York.

“He has so much rage inside of his heart, and he’s gonna unleash it on this dude,” Lopez Sr. said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if his legs start twitching like Mason Menard’s legs did. This guy is in for an awakening, and I know he’s thinking about how he’s gonna go to sleep. Nobody’s gonna tell me different. My son is a monster, and everybody that faces him knows that. This is not no pitty-patting-punching guy. He’s gonna put a hurting to you, you know?

“I just hope nobody gets hurt. I don’t wish no man, nobody bad. But this guy deserves to at least go to the ground, you know, for the fight to be stopped. Saturday, I know he’s gonna come out victorious. It could happen in the first, second, third round, you know, but it’s gonna happen.”

Though Lopez (15-0, 12 KOs) has stopped 80 percent of his opponents inside the distance, Lomachenko’s chin has been reliable during his seven-year pro career. Jorge Linares knocked Lomachenko (14-1, 10 KOs) to the seat of his trunks with a right hand late in the sixth round in May 2018, but Lomachenko quickly reached his feet, regained control of their bout and knocked out Linares with a precise body shot in the 10th round at Madison Square Garden.

Lopez Sr. is sure his son will hit Lomachenko much harder than Linares.

“You know, only 15 fights, and look where he’s at, almost untouchable,” Lopez Sr. said. “Hardly gets hit. Never had an eight count. You know, he had an eight count in the first fight [against Ishwar Siqueiros], but that was a slip. But he’s never been hurt, not like Loma. Loma has been hurt numerous times, you know, by guys that are like C-level fighters, B-level fighters. I know what I have. I’m coming into this fight more certain than I did with the Commey fight. This guy has got nothing to hurt my son with. And everybody’s gonna find out why on Saturday. I just can’t wait, man.”

ESPN and ESPN Deportes will televise Lomachenko-Lopez as the main event of an eight-bout card (7:30 p.m. ET; 4:30 p.m. PT). ESPN+ also will stream the entire event live.

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