Floyd Mayweather Jr, 40 (49-0-0 26 KO’S) v Conor McGregor, 29 (Debut)
Floyd Mayweather will be making his way out of retirement to fight the widely popular UFC star Conor McGregor. This fight has a lot of people talking about the possibilities of what would become, in my opinion, the biggest combat sporting shock in all of history and would be up there as one of the biggest underdog stories in every sport going. Look at it however you want, but McGregor has a lot of advantages coming into this fight, one of which being the fact Floyd’s 2 years out from boxing while McGregor has fought 3 times since March last year in the UFC. Conor being a southpaw has been brought up a lot as a potential problem for the unbeaten five-weight world champion and it has been noticeable with a few of his previous fights. The biggest advantage for the Irishman, in my opinion, is the age differences. McGregor is 11 years younger than Floyd and that will surely show come fight night. How much of a disadvantage for Floyd this will prove to be is yet to be known. Mayweather has a knockout percentage of 53% with his last KO victory coming back 2011 with the controversial ending with Victor Ortiz. McGregor in the UFC has a KO percentage of 75% with a total record or 21-3-0. For me, I cannot see another outcome bar Floyd Mayweather making it 50-0 and I see it coming by way of knockout in the 5/6th round.
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This fight has been a tough one for the bookies. Please note that odds are subjected to change for all the fights mentioned. Floyd is an obvious favourite all around and seems to be an average of 1-4 across the board with McGregor being for the most part 3-1 which to some people, might seem a bit low considering it is the Irishman’s debut against one of the best boxers in the history of the sport. You can grab some unmissable offers with some of the sites. Paddy Power is offering 20-1 for a Mayweather win and 40-1 for McGregor for all new accounts. For the method of victory, you can get some interesting odds. For Mayweather, to win by KO, TKO or DQ, 32Red will offer you 4/6, Floyd on points/decision will fetch you 5-2 odds, McGregor on KO, TKO or DQ will grab you 15-2 and a Conor winning the full fight will see you get 25 to 1 odds. Floyd to win by stoppage in my predicted rounds, Betfred offer 14-1 for round 5 and 12-1 for round 6. The fight is 2-1 to go the distance at Coral and 4/11 to be stopped early. I believe both fighters will each score a knockdown and at Bet365 it’s 8/15 for Floyd to score a knockdown, 11/4 for McGregor to knock Floyd down. For Floyd not to score a knockdown, they offer 11/8 and 1-4 for the same of Conor.
Badou Jack, 33 (21-1-2, 12 KO’S) vs Nathan Cleverley, 30 (30-3-0, 16 KO’S)
The Welshman will be defending his WBA World Light Heavyweight Title for the first time on the undercard of the Mayweather-McGregor fight against Swedish boxer, Badou Jack. Cleverley picked up the title last year by beating Juergen Braehmer by RTD in the 6th round in the champions own backyard of Germany. The challenger, who was previously the WBC World Super Middleweight champion, will certainly be a serious threat to the champion and is a lot of bookies favourite to win the fight. Nathan Cleverley currently has a knockout percentage of just under 50% with his challenger obtaining a percentage of exactly 50%. The Welshman will narrowly have both the height and reach advantage in the fight by half an inch in height and an inch in reach. The way I personally see the fight going is in favour of the champion. I see the fight going the distance with Cleverley winning on point or by decision.
For a lot of the bookies, they have the champion losing his title to the champion. If my prediction is correct, over at Bet365, a £10 bet would bag me £55. Cleverley is 3-1 pretty much across the board on most of the online sites which could be worth a shot. For a Cleverley to win by KO, Coral offer 9-1 and offer 11-4 for a Badou KO.
Gervonta Davis, 22 (18-0-0, 17 KO’S) v Francisco Fonseca, 23 (19-0-1, 13 KO’S)
Gervonta, who will be defending his IBF junior lightweight title, will also be headlining the Mayweather-McGregor undercard against the challenger Francisco Fonseca from Costa Rico. When talking about the event, Davis said this – “I want to thank my team for this incredible opportunity and I am ready for Floyd Mayweather to pass his torch to me.” A lot of hype is surrounding the unbeaten American super featherweight and he seems to be handling it well and boasts a 94% KO percentage to his challengers 65% percentage. His opponent is also unbeaten coming into the fight but does have a single draw on his record with his debut draw over Eduardo Urbina. Fonseca has already stated that he will have no problem in the fact Davis is a southpaw stating that he has spared all of his life with southpaws and has said he has a solid game plan to deal with the champ’s speed and power. For me, I would have to go with the champion winning by KO in the early rounds, around the 3rd or 4th.
I see Davis as a clear favourite in the fight and the bookies see it the same way. My prediction would see me grab 11-2 for the third and 4-1 for the fourth on Coral. The fight to go the distance is at 11-2 over at Betfair with it 1-10 for the fight to end early. If you are looking for an outside shout to earn some extra cash, you can get 50-1 on Fonseca to win on points/decision on Betfair.
Miguel Cotto, 36 (40-5-0, 33 KO’S) v Yoshihiro Kamegai, 34 (27-3-2, 24 KO’S)
Cotto and Kamegai will be facing off at the StubHub Centre in California for the vacant WBO World Super Welterweight Title. Cotto will be fighting to get his 6th world title and has a record of 19-5 in world title fights with 16 wins by way of knockout in such fights. Both fighters have around the 75% mark for knockout percentage and the Japanese fighter will have the height and reach advantage in the bout with Cotto at 5′ 7″/170cm and a reach of 67″ while his opponent is at 5′ 9″/175cm and has a reach of 71″. Cotto has fought bigger names during his career and also has more experience than his opponent, fighting 137 more rounds. I have Cotto stopping Kamegai in the later rounds at around the 7th or 8th round.
The bookies favourite for this fight is the more experienced, Cotto. I’d say there is little chance of an upset in this fight. If you were to bet my picks so far, you would be getting 5.85-1 at Paddy Power, 5.9-1 at Bet Fred and 5.3-1 at SkyBet. Cotto is 2/9 to win at most sites with Kamegai to upset the odds at around the 3-1 mark, the same as debutant McGregor fighting one of the best boxers of all time!
Andrew Tabiti, 27 (14-0-0, 12 KO’S) vs. Steve Cunningham, 41 (29-8-1, 13 KO’S)
In a fight for the vacant USBA cruiserweight title, unbeaten Tabiti will face the experienced Cunningham on the undercard of the Mayweather-McGregor fight. “I’m looking forward to getting in there, getting the experience and stepping up,” Tabitit said, adding “I know I can win. He’s got experience but when we get in the ring, I might look like the veteran.” I back Tabiti to get the KO in the later rounds in what will be a hard-fought win for the young cruiserweight. Tabiti – KO 7th round.
Tabiti is at 4/11 at both Sky Bet and Bet365, with a draw at 25-1 on Sky Bet and it being 11-5 for a Cunningham on Bet365 and 15-8 on Sky. If you fancy the experienced fighter on this one, you can pick up a sweet little 2-1 at William Hill and over at the same site the unbeaten boxer is 4/11. Betfair is the only site offering bets on the method of victory with Steve Cunningham winning by Decision or Technical Decision at 1-4 and Andrew Tabiti by Decision or Technical Decision at 4/7. They are also the only site offering other markets with my prediction of Tabiti winning by KO in the 7th round at 17-2.
If you were to bet on all of my predictions on all the fights mentioned, you’d grab yourself just 8.23 to 1 on Betfair (just over £92 return from a £10 stake) and 7.59-1 at Sky Bet (£85.86 return from a £10 stake) but if you were to fancy the exact opposite on all of my predictions, you’d grab a lovely 934-1 at Betfair and 631-1 at Sky Bet however unlikely it may be.
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