The Boxing Model - lob-sided 'contests'

Diddley Squat

So tonight the UK card is another pile of dirt, all one way traffic

closely followed by the US card :

Hardly a competitive fight amongst them - in fact I think the only 50/50 match scheduled this year is flippin' Jake Paul v Tyron Woodley 🙄

megadodge

If you're going just by the odds, it looks that way, but there certainly are a number of very good contests in the American list.

The one that jumps out for me is the Ortiz / Kavaliasuskas bout. That's a can't-miss barnburner.

The 1/9 for Ortiz odds are ridiculous and purely from a value point of view, that's a good lay bet. I'm not saying Oritz is definitely going to lose, but with the styles of both this looks like a hard fight.

Franco / Maloney, Casimeiro / Rigondeaux, Russell / Rodriguez and Guttierez / Alvarado are all pretty hard-to-call fights IMO.

Having said all that, I agree overall that the amount of one-sided fights on professional bills is annoying to say the least. That's why I love going to good amateur bills in the Stadium; nearly all fights have good matcups between two fighters actually trying to win.

Diddley Squat

Yep - You've picked out the best of the bunch there.

I was going to have a sneaky on the Lithuanian to beat Ortiz, as you rightly point out that the figures are skewed somewhat. Golden Boy will have nothing left soon !

But in general, boxing cards are completely lobsided affairs. This pattern was established instantly with the Al HAymon takeover some years ago. Before that we always had competitive matches. On top of that there is no single boxing body that can force fighters to face each other. Promoters are another obstacle as they are so reluctant to deal with each other.

It just seems that boxing cards are getting fewer and farther apart, sometimes there's nothing on for weeks and then when it does come along there is nothing but a pile of mis-matched events.

I've always had a gamble on the boxing, been staying up till 6am on a Saturday night for the last 20 years. As a kid I got up and listened to it on the radio, when I couldnt afford Sky I used to just watch the fuzzy screen and listen to the commentary. So I can say from years of experience that it has never been this bad.

A lot of the bookies aren't bothering to cover the late night boxing in-running anymore, obviously not worth their while. Betfair has no liquidity on anything other than than the fights that draw the casual fans.

I only draw attention to the betting market because it serves an honest reflection of the state of boxing today. The competition to boxing is of course the MMA https://www.oddschecker.com/ufc-mma which has 15 short matches that are very tight match-ups. There will be more money matched on an early prelim fight than there will on the main event on any of tonight's boxing cards.

For me boxing will always be my number one, so it bothers me to see the sport decline so quickly. I wonder is boxing purely being kept afloat by dirty money, is Kinahan chanelling thru Matchroom ? Did we ever find out who the mystery investors were that paid for the Haymon takeover ? None of these ventures making any economic sense in reality.

The Olympics revives interest temporarily, but will fade quickly as it slips off the screens and papers

Rjd2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117752977#Comment_117752977

A problem with so much of those undercards is the lack of intrigue which the betting odds reflect. Watching a boy wonder labour his way to a dull points win over some journeyman isn't the most pleasant of viewings. Its annoying as so many cards the only intrigue is whether the overwhelming fav wins by decision or KO.

With UFC even with the crappy fight night cards which have been decimated by covid, you can get some really close and fun fights where the result is not a foregone conclusion.

I dunno what to do with these one sided prelims, maybe make them shorter?

walshb

Folks just want to see the top lads face each other, and sadly, it does not happen near as much as it should.

Some breathtaking bouts out there that have not happened. Far too much red tape...