Ron Raymond is a Sports Handicapper and the founder of Phoenixsports.com.
Boxing is trying very hard to regain back the market share it lost to the UFC the last 10 years; as the younger generation of today believes there’s more bang for their buck with the UFC and knowing the promoters will not corrupt the end result of a fight if it goes to a decision. In my opinion, Boxing lost a lot of their credibility in the late 90’s, early 2000's, as promoters were more interested in setting up the next fight with the big names, then giving the new guy their credit if they just beat the meal ticket.
Every generation will have their top stars; I believe when boxing saw some of their big name stars in their prime like Oscar De La Hoya, Felix "tito" Trinidad, and Hopkins got up their in age, management never really looked to replace them and if you don’t have a vibrant and main attraction or the car wreck in the Heavyweight division, then you’re going to see your sport die a slow death. Iron Mike Tyson was the car accident everybody wanted to see, he was just a freak when he got in the ring and people love the fact, he was going to be a beast in the ring. I’m 40 years old and when I was in my teens, I loved it when Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns was fighthing, or John "The Beast" Mugabi was going to be on a PPV and guys like Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard and Roberto “Manos de Piedra – Hands of Stone” Duran left fans wanting more and we couldn’t wait for their next fight.
Plus, in those days, the Heavyweight division was alive, just when Larry Holmes and Muhammad Ali were winding down, you had Iron Mike Tyson right there to pick up the torch the old guys left behind and he ran with it! Right now, the big name Heavyweights are from Europe and Russia and nobody can relate with the Heavyweight division if the big stars are across the sea.
However, boxing is slowly showing a spark, Oscar made a comeback last year bur retired again, and now you’re seeing guys like Mayweather Jr. come back and Manny Pacquiao is the "buzz word" in boxing. Plus, Boxing needs an honest and dependable promoters to pick up on this positive energy of late and make a dent in the fight world. There’s a lot of pie to go around and I’m a true believer that you should never have enemies in business, but boxing should use the UFC as an ally and build bridges to promote both sports.
As for the current affairs in boxing, big names are now putting their names back in the hat and it starts off Saturday May 9th, as Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver takes on Chad "Bad" Dawson for the Light Heavyweight championship. Chad Dawson is the current IBO and IBF light heavyweight champion and he’s a -750 favorite to beat Tarver. Meaning, you would need to wager $750 dollars on Dawson to win $100. Tarver on the other hand is the underdog in this main event, he carries a +550 price tag and in order to make $550 dollars, you would need to wager $100 and he needs to win.
Another boxing proposition bet is the OVER/UNDER on how many rounds this fight will go. The Las Vegas and Offshore Bookmakers have set the O/U on this fight at 9.5 rounds. OVER 9.5 Rounds is set at -400 and the UNDER is announced at +360, to go UNDER 9.5 rounds.
On June 27th, Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik is going to take on Sergio “The Latin Snake” Mora for the Middleweight Championship. Pavlik is 34-1-0 during his Pro Fighthing career, he beat Jermain Taylor for the title and he’s a huge favorite in this fight vs. Mora at -1200. Therefore, if you wanted to wager on Kelly Pavlik that weekend, you will need to lay $1200 to win $100. The bookmakers have set the OVER/UNDER on this fight at 9.5 rounds, asking the boxing betting public, do you think this fight will go OVER or UNDER 9.5 Rounds. The OVER is set at -145, while the UNDER is +125. So, if you wagered $100 on the UNDER and it goes 8 rounds, no matter who wins, then you will win $125 dollars. If you picked the OVER 9.5 and you wagered $145 and the fight went 8 rounds, then you lose $145 dollars. But if the fight goes 10 rounds or more, you win your wager and collect $100 dollars. Note, the challenger Mora is 21-1 in 23 fights and 5 of his wins came by KO’s.
Now for the main event on July 18th 2009 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada and you can catch it on HBO/PPV; Floyd “Pretty Boy Floyd” Mayweather Jr. will enter the ring again and take on Juan Manuel “Dinamita” Marquez. Floyd Mayweather owns a boxing record of 39 wins and 0 loses and 25 of his wins have come by TKO. Furthermore, Mayweather has won six championship belts in five different weight classes and he is the former WBC welterweight champion.
Las Vegas odds on the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight for July 18th have been released and to no surprise, Mayweather is a -383 favorite, while Marquez is a +353 underdog.
Betting odds example:
If you bet on Mayweather and he wins; every $383 dollars wagered will return you $100 dollars
If you bet on Marquez and he wins: every $100 dollars wagered will return $353 dollars.
It’s very early to start handicapping this fight, but I invite you to return to this site in June and we will have more boxing information for your wagering needs, including a tons of more boxing prop bets.
Current Boxing Odds:
Antonio Tarver vs Chad Dawson: Light Heavyweight
Sat 5/9 Antonio Tarver vs Chad Dawson
Sat 5/9 Total Rounds (Tarver vs Dawson)
Sergio Mora vs Kelly Pavlik: Middleweight
Sat 6/27 Sergio Mora vs Kelly Pavlik
Sat 6/27 Total Rounds (Mora vs Pavlik)
Juan Manuel Marquez vs Floyd Mayweather Jr: Welterweight
Juan Manuel Marquez vs Floyd Mayweather Jr
