NEW YORK — Eddie Hearn understands why world champions won't willingly fight Andy Cruz.

The 2021 Olympic gold medalist has just five pro fights, is far from a star in the United States and is a high-risk, low-reward proposition for any lightweight titleholder hopeful of maintaining his status.

That's why Hearn commended Cruz's unknown, seemingly overmatched opponent, Hironori Mishiro, for accepting their IBF elimination match Saturday night on the Richardson Hitchins-George Kambosos Jr. undercard in The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

"This man is a problem," Hearn, Cruz’s promoter, said about him Thursday during a press conference at Madison Square Garden. "This man is a genius. This man is one of the best fighters in the world right now. And now, with the emergence of Japanese boxing, this man to my left in Mishiro is coming to try and stake his claim to fight for the world championship."

The winner of this 12-round, 135-pound bout between Cuba's Cruz (5-0, 2 KOs) and Japan's Mishiro (17-1-1, 6 KOs) will become the IBF's No. 1 challenger for its lightweight champion, Raymond Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs). Cruz is ranked third among the IBF's lightweight contenders and Mishiro is listed fifth in its top 15.

The IBF removed the interim tag from Muratalla's title once its former champion, Vasiliy Lomachenko, announced his retirement June 5. The Nos. 1 and 2 positions in the IBF's lightweight rankings are unoccupied.

DraftKings lists Cruz as an 18-1 favorite over Mishiro. Yokohama's Mishiro, 30, has only one loss, though his readiness for a contender as accomplished and skilled as Cruz is doubted because he has beaten a low level of opposition and competed almost exclusively in Japan.

"No one's gonna wanna fight [Cruz]," Hearn said. "That's why I take my hat off to Mishiro. We need to get in a mandatory position and that's what we do on Saturday night. We knock the doors down to make sure no one can refuse to fight this man."

Cruz has been ambitious about picking opponents since he turned pro two years ago. Mishiro might not have any name recognition in the United States, yet he understands upsetting Cruz would completely change his life.

"I absolutely know how talented he is and how good as a fighter he is," Mishiro said. "But I'm not here to just fight. I'm here to win. And I came all the way from Japan to show the world that Japanese fighters, Japanese boxers are built different."

Cruz, 29, admitted that he isn't all that familiar with Mishiro, who has won five fights in a row since South Korea’s Min Jo Hung (19-5-2, 5 KOs) beat him by technical unanimous decision in April 2023.

"To be honest, I have not seen a great deal of him," Cruz told The Ring. "I've seen some bits. He's a very talented fighter and I'm sure he has been preparing with that same objective, to win this fight and to go on to other things."

DAZN's Hitchins-Kambosos undercard coverage is scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m. ET (12:15 a.m. GMT). Cruz and Mishiro will square off in the co-feature that will immediately precede Hitchins' first defense of the IBF junior welterweight title in the 12-round main event.