There’s no top-level domestic boxing action this weekend and fight fans are going to have to get used to staying up late on Saturday night to get their knockout fix.
Sky Sports and Matchroom staged their last show together last weekend and Eddie Hearn has moved his stable of fighters to streaming service DAZN. It’s going to be international action only for Sky in the next couple of months and they kick off with Naoya Inoue v Michael Dasmerinas from Las Vegas in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Inoue’s WBA and IBF bantamweight titles are on the line against Michael Dasmarinas and Monster is the firm 1/40 favourite to hold on to his belts. There doesn’t seem to be a huge amount of value to be had in that Las Vegas showdown and it looks like a fight best watched.
Intriguing Fight in El Paso
There’s also an interesting clash in El Paso on Sunday morning when the unbeaten Jaime Munguia takes on Kamil Szeremeta. The Mexican will be well known to British fight fans after wins against Gary O’Sullivan and Liam Smith. Munguia has a perfect record of 36 wins from 36 bouts and he looks to be a puncher going places.
Szeremeta is on a recovery mission after a bruising stoppage defeat to Gennadiy Golovkin last time out and he looks to face a tough task here. That hasn’t been missed by the prices with Munguia a 1/50 poke.
Value to be Had in Houston
It’s a shame that this weekend’s fights are so uncompetitive, both from a fans and punters perspective, but it’s possible there could be a value play in Houston. Jermall Charlo defends his WBC middleweight belt against Juan Macias Montiel at the Toyota Centre and the American is the shortest of all the big fighters in action at 1/150.
Clearly, the Hit Man is expected to get the job done and he is 2/9 to add another stoppage victory to his 22 career knockout wins.
There’s little to be interested in at those prices, but Montiel’s durability may be being overplayed in the total rounds market. The line has been set at 5.5 and it could pay to go under that mark.
It’s clear from the fight betting that Charlo is a class apart from his Mexican opponent. Montiel was stopped in two rounds by Munguia in 2017 and that loss followed a defeat to Jhony Montano. The Mexican has got his career back on track since those reversals.
However, his latest win over James Kirkland may read well, but the American is in the twilight of his career and has fought only four times since he was busted up by Saul Alvarez in 2015.
The Hit Man is chasing fights against the likes of Alvarez and Golovkin in the future and he will no doubt be keen to put on a show against his outclassed opponent. Backing Charlo to get the job done before the start of the sixth round looks a decent bet.
*All odds correct at time of writing