Conor Benn’s aggressive style and likeable personality has gained him plenty of followers and ‘The Destroyer’ steps in against Chris Algieri at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool on Saturday night.
Benn is moving up the welterweight ranks and he certainly steps up in class when facing Algieri.
The Essex puncher had a good win against Sebastian Formella, but he has generally been well matched and put in with limited opponents.
Class-Rise for Benn
It’s potentially a different story against Algieri. The American has only been beaten three times in a good career and all of those defeats came at the hands of a world champion.
Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan and Errol Spence Jnr are the only three men to have beaten the former WBO super-lightweight king.
On that sort of form Algieri would certainly cause Benn plenty of problems and possibly beat the Brit.
The trouble is we don’t know how much is left in the 37-year-old’s tank. ‘The Fighting Collegian’ has fought just once since beating the game Tommy Coyle in 2019.
Of course, Covid caused most fighters to take a break, but you do wonder if Algieri is just coming for a payday or if he still has the desire needed to win this fight.
On balance it seems likely that the American will still have a bit to give and certainly more than the prices are giving him credit for.
Benn is likely to prove too sharp, quick and fresh for Algieri, but that may not be as pronounced as the betting of 1/9 and 5/1 suggests, and the New York puncher should be able to see out the full ten rounds. Backing Benn to win by decision looks the play.
Lundy Bout Tops Undercard
On the undercard, Katie Taylor is a red-hot 1/40 favourite against Firuza Sharipova and there is also an outing for John Riel Casimero.
In terms of betting, Robbie Davies Jnr’s clash with Henry Lundy is the interesting one. Much like the Benn v Algieri fight it’s a question of how much Lundy has left at this stage of his career.
However, the difference in this bout is Davies doesn’t have the ability of Benn and the Liverpool boxer is only a domestic-level fighter.
The 32-year-old has been beaten by Lewis Ritson, Michal Syrowatka and Gabriel Valenzuela in a 24-fight professional career and it isn’t going to take an elite-level fighter to get him beat.
Underdog Has Big-Fight Pedigree
Lundy has been in with some big names in his career. Hank has shared a ring with the likes of Terence Crawford and Viktor Postol and Crawford and John Molina Jnr are the only men to have stopped the American in his 41-fights.
Lundy is now 37-years-old, but he has remained fairly active and he fought Jose Zepeda back in May. The fact that Hank was able to take Zepeda the distance, certainly indicates that he still has something to offer and more than the prices suggest.
Davies has been exposed plenty of times in his career and his defence isn’t great.
The 32-year-old has only been stopped once, but Lewis Ritson dished out some serious punishment to the Liverpool man and the fact he was beaten by Valenzuela earlier this year suggests that fight may have left its mark. At the prices you can certainly take a punt on Lundy.
*All odds correct at time of writing.