Lemieux went first, and he didn't hesitate to throw a few verbal punches Stevens' way.
"He's talked a lot of trash, I haven't really been replying," Lemieux said. "When I was seeing these things, I just had a laugh. Like, this guy's a clown. This is not [WWE], this is real. It's boxing. You gotta go in there, and your life could be in trouble.
"So I'm gonna punish him, I'm gonna hurt him, and I'm gonna destroy him. That's what I'm gonna do on Saturday."
Pretty chilling words, especially given the way they were delivered -- calmly and coolly. The 28-year-old Montreal native with a slick boy-band haircut looks pretty harmless on first glance, but his record indicates otherwise: 36-3, with 32 knockouts.
And he wasn't done taking shots at Stevens, either.
"I think he's fake," Lemieux also said. "A real fighter doesn't need to hype that much. There's a very easy saying, a lion doesn't lose sleep over the opinion of a sheep. It's just a saying, but it's kind of true."
Stevens is no sheep, however. The 31-year-old from Brooklyn is 29-5, with 21 knockouts to his name. Both these fighters like to mix it up, which could make for a very good show on HBO Boxing After Dark.
But Stevens was less interested in putting down Lemieux on Wednesday.
"This is business, there's nothing personal," Stevens said. "He's in his feelings. That's the difference, he's in his feelings, you dig? This is business to me, I just gotta go in there and win and move on to the next."
What's next for the winner of this fight could very well be a rematch with undefeated middleweight title holder Gennady Golovkin. Both Lemieux and Stevens have already lost to Golovkin once -- Lemieux by an eighth-round TKO in 2015, Stevens by an eight-round TKO in 2013.
Both fighters indicated they'd like another chance against Golovkin, but neither wanted to talk much about it at this juncture.
"The real winner wants to go back to Golovkin," Lemieux said. "But right now I'm just concentrating on this fight."
"We'll deal with Saturday first," Stevens said, "and then move on to the next one."
Speaking of Saturday, Stevens was also asked what he expects to do against Lemieux, and his one-word answer was nearly as chilling: "Win."