While the boxing schedule isn’t exactly stacked this weekend, we thought it would be a good a time as any to launch a weekly dive into the betting markets.
Despite the two heavyweight favourites (Oleksandr Usyk at 1/10 | -1000 and Jared Anderson at 1/40 | -4000) this weekend weighing up at a pointless double, there is still enough to tuck into in the prop markets.
Usyk going the distance?
There are naturally going to be conversations around the durability of the Daniel Dubois eye, but Usyk hasn’t shown that heavyweight power, yet…
The Ukrainian has gone the distance in his last three outings, only registering one stoppage victory as a heavyweight against Chazz Witherspoon, and at a price of 12/5 | +240 to defend his titles on the scorecards it could be worth a small-ish stake.
Sure, Dubois has only heard the final bell once as a pro — in a ten-rounder against Kevin Johnson — but Usyk could well take his foot off the gas towards the back-end of the fight if the victory looks in the bag.
Dubois has one-punch KO power and Usyk will be wary of pushing too hard to close the show.
If you want the tiniest of tiny safety nets, then 9/4 | +225 is your price to back the fight going the distance regardless of the winner. But that would take some performance from the travelling Briton.
Underdog heavyweights
Upsets have littered the heavyweight division in years gone by, and you can cash in a whopping 108/1 | +10800 if you fancy Daniel Dubois and Andriy Rudenko to do the business this weekend.
Andriy Rudenko’s price of 29/2 | +1450 to beat Jared Anderson is huge. Anderson is back on the KO charge having been taken the distance by Charles Martin for the first time in his last outing, and it’s probably a better punt trying to get Anderson early in the Rounds betting rather than backing Rudenko to get an unlikely win.
Anderson to win in Rounds 1-2 weighs in at 7/2 | +350 which is a lovely price considering “Big Baby” has blitzed his opponents out in either of those rounds in 10/15 wins.
And how about Dubois to stop Usyk? Realistically, that’s the only way “DDD” is going to become heavyweight champion, and is priced at 8/1 | +800 to upset Usyk by KO.
Usyk is such a controller of fights and will often dictate the tempo on his own terms. If we’re looking at Usyk stopping Dubois, then the Rounds betting is a stab in the dark — more than most.
It would be tempting to look at Rounds 7-8 for Usyk at 9/2 | +450, but nothing more than a small stake.
Value in Kossobutskiy?
The most high-profile fight this weekend resembling anything close to a 50/50 is Efe Ajagba vs Zhan Kossobutskiy.
Ajagba can be found as an 8/5 | +160 dog in comparison to Kossobutskiy at 10/21 | -210.
This opens up good value for Kossobutskiy who looks well equipped to expose Ajagba and make his name on US soil.
Ajagba found his ceiling against Frank Sanchez in 2021 but can be credited in jabbing his way to a win over Stephen Shaw earlier in 2023. But Kossobutskiy looks well set to have a good run in the heavyweight division — he’s a heavy hitter grounded by the Kazakh schooling.
11/8 | +138 is the price for a Kossobutskiy KO in this 10-rounder and is probably the pick of the week.