Boxing Speculation, Odds and Predictions

[Hirose UK]

I do think that it could be a smooth negotiations for either of the two, even if Shakur doesn't want to renew his contract although it could be a bottle neck as Shakur might want to get more what Arum will offer to him.

At this stage of his career, Loma doesn't need a Shakur type of fighter because that could only make him look bad in the ring as Shakur's lateral movement doesn't fit for Loma's style of boxing. Loma vs Tank Davis is the best fight for now for Loma as both fighters are crowd drawers and bring good money for either fighter though the negotiation for this fight is hard.

Isn't the fight between Shakur and Loma also part of Bob Arum plan, if these two fighters meet, it could trigger really big hype because many people are also discussing the fight between the two.
But who knows what will happen next, we see how it plays out in this ongoing drama but I sure fight between these two fighters can make more money too.
There are plenty of opportunities that could be created and there is vacant title to justify the fight, title unification could actually happen in the future.

After all, Shakur was great fighter and he had his heyday as an undefeated great fighter at young age.
Just look at how he beat Edwin De Los Santos when fighting for the WBC lightweight title, he put on really great fight.

[FinneysTrueVision]

If Loma wants money then obviously it is Tank Davis due to its huge fanbase. Navarette lost his bid to become champion at 135 today so he is out of Loma's radar while new WBO champ Berinchyk is another Ukrainian that has no fanbase in the western world. We saw how boring Shakur's last fight and there will be less fans in his next fight. Which is why Shakur is hyping himself now, calling the bigger names.

Even if a fight with Berinchyk was marketable, I doubt two Ukranian fighters would really fight each other unless it was absolutely necessary. Picking Tank over Shakur seems like the most logical option. It is the fight which will draw the most fans because of the potential to be an exciting fight. As good as Shakur is, his style is just not appealing in this era where people want to see sensational knockouts.

It all depends on whether Tank is serious about wanting to fight Loma. It’s unclear how much involvement Floyd still has in Tank’s career, but there is some clear animosity between them. Hopefully, Tank will free himself from Mayweather’s control and start making his own decisions. Floyd has been holding him back by being so overprotective.

[inthelongrun]

If Loma wants money then obviously it is Tank Davis due to its huge fanbase. Navarette lost his bid to become champion at 135 today so he is out of Loma's radar while new WBO champ Berinchyk is another Ukrainian that has no fanbase in the western world. We saw how boring Shakur's last fight and there will be less fans in his next fight. Which is why Shakur is hyping himself now, calling the bigger names.

Even if a fight with Berinchyk was marketable, I doubt two Ukranian fighters would really fight each other unless it was absolutely necessary. Picking Tank over Shakur seems like the most logical option. It is the fight which will draw the most fans because of the potential to be an exciting fight. As good as Shakur is, his style is just not appealing in this era where people want to see sensational knockouts.

It all depends on whether Tank is serious about wanting to fight Loma. It’s unclear how much involvement Floyd still has in Tank’s career, but there is some clear animosity between them. Hopefully, Tank will free himself from Mayweather’s control and start making his own decisions. Floyd has been holding him back by being so overprotective.

I am also curious if they're both willing to unify each other. I remember when the Klitschko brothers owned all the belts at heavyweight but are not willing to fight each other. I can't even remember an all Ukrainian world title fight. Wladimir Klitschko nearly had to face his countryman Sascha Dimitrenko for the WBO mandatory but the latter was upset in the eliminator.

I am not sure if Tank still has a contract with Floyd Mayweather but yeah, lately they're not in good terms. But even without Floyd, I cannot hear Tank saying he wants to unify the belts or fight the other champs.

[Yaunfitda]

I do think that it could be a smooth negotiations for either of the two, even if Shakur doesn't want to renew his contract although it could be a bottle neck as Shakur might want to get more what Arum will offer to him.

At this stage of his career, Loma doesn't need a Shakur type of fighter because that could only make him look bad in the ring as Shakur's lateral movement doesn't fit for Loma's style of boxing. Loma vs Tank Davis is the best fight for now for Loma as both fighters are crowd drawers and bring good money for either fighter though the negotiation for this fight is hard.

Isn't the fight between Shakur and Loma also part of Bob Arum plan, if these two fighters meet, it could trigger really big hype because many people are also discussing the fight between the two.
But who knows what will happen next, we see how it plays out in this ongoing drama but I sure fight between these two fighters can make more money too.
There are plenty of opportunities that could be created and there is vacant title to justify the fight, title unification could actually happen in the future.

After all, Shakur was great fighter and he had his heyday as an undefeated great fighter at young age.
Just look at how he beat Edwin De Los Santos when fighting for the WBC lightweight title, he put on really great fight.

As far as I know, Shakur will have his last fight with Top Rank against Artem Harutyunyan. And after that he said publicly that he will not extend his contract with Top Rank. So the fight with Loma could be in jeopardy.
@inthelongrun - it's inevitable though, but Ukrainians are champion right now at 135 lbs. So it can only make sense if they are going to fight and put aside their nationality. But let's see, I mean if they are going to be forced by governing body or if the fight really make sense for the money, then for sure they will go and oblige to face each other in the future. At least in the end, it will still be the Ukrainians that are going to win.

[inthelongrun]

...
@inthelongrun - it's inevitable though, but Ukrainians are champion right now at 135 lbs. So it can only make sense if they are going to fight and put aside their nationality. But let's see, I mean if they are going to be forced by governing body or if the fight really make sense for the money, then for sure they will go and oblige to face each other in the future. At least in the end, it will still be the Ukrainians that are going to win.

The governing bodies have no right to issue or force unifications so it will be about the money for sure. And as you said, the winner will still be a Ukrainian. But so far, Berinchyk is the least popular among champions consisting of Loma, Tank and Shakur. Tank has the biggest fanbase but we'll see if he is interested in unifying the belts. I felt bad or annoyed on Tank because he keeps on ducking the other champions. He is nearing 30 already. He is so rich but without solid accomplishments he will be forgotten once he retires.

The division right now seems complicated and could be hard to unify. Tank seems uninterested. Loma is aging and will most likely choose the biggest offer and might duck the young talent but boring Shakur. Berinchyk has no name yet so he is the easiest to negotiate. It might need Saudi's Alalshikh to unify all the belts in the division once again.

[Yaunfitda]

...
@inthelongrun - it's inevitable though, but Ukrainians are champion right now at 135 lbs. So it can only make sense if they are going to fight and put aside their nationality. But let's see, I mean if they are going to be forced by governing body or if the fight really make sense for the money, then for sure they will go and oblige to face each other in the future. At least in the end, it will still be the Ukrainians that are going to win.

The governing bodies have no right to issue or force unifications so it will be about the money for sure. And as you said, the winner will still be a Ukrainian. But so far, Berinchyk is the least popular among champions consisting of Loma, Tank and Shakur. Tank has the biggest fanbase but we'll see if he is interested in unifying the belts. I felt bad or annoyed on Tank because he keeps on ducking the other champions. He is nearing 30 already. He is so rich but without solid accomplishments he will be forgotten once he retires.

I think they do, they can enforce or stripped anyone if they wanted, but the thing is that they don't want to. We all love to see Tank against those champion and I think even Berinchyk will have a good chance. However, I do agree that Davis is just contented of fighting nobody maybe except Ryan Garcia but we all know that Ryan is dehydrated on that fight. Although Frank Martin is a decent fight for him, nothing is better than facing champion or a unification fight. But his camp doesn't want to risk his 0.

The division right now seems complicated and could be hard to unify. Tank seems uninterested. Loma is aging and will most likely choose the biggest offer and might duck the young talent but boring Shakur. Berinchyk has no name yet so he is the easiest to negotiate. It might need Saudi's Alalshikh to unify all the belts in the division once again.

Again, it will be still interesting if they will just fight against each other. But it's not that easy, and who knows, maybe HE Alalshikh might involved himself in the lower division for the first time and this is the weight class that he wanted to see some action with those great names.

[yazher]

As far as I know, Shakur will have his last fight with Top Rank against Artem Harutyunyan. And after that he said publicly that he will not extend his contract with Top Rank. So the fight with Loma could be in jeopardy.

They can't help but finish the contract with him since his fight is not entertaining at all because fans wanted to see good fights that mostly ended up in knockouts. It's getting boring and every win he made doesn't seem to make any impact on his career that's why he really needs to rest with them and give others a chance to rise because many other boxers are there but they don't have any exposure since they have poor management which doesn't give them chance to shine and this is their chance to get a contract because surely after this, Top rank will need a new potential rising star to be signed.

[btc_angela]

As far as I know, Shakur will have his last fight with Top Rank against Artem Harutyunyan. And after that he said publicly that he will not extend his contract with Top Rank. So the fight with Loma could be in jeopardy.

They can't help but finish the contract with him since his fight is not entertaining at all because fans wanted to see good fights that mostly ended up in knockouts. It's getting boring and every win he made doesn't seem to make any impact on his career that's why he really needs to rest with them and give others a chance to rise because many other boxers are there but they don't have any exposure since they have poor management which doesn't give them chance to shine and this is their chance to get a contract because surely after this, Top rank will need a new potential rising star to be signed.

It's not that point, Top Rank wanted him to re sign with them, but Shakur doesn't want to because just like the rest of good to great and elite fighters now, they are looking for money. And boxing is business, and we all know that Shakur can't sell fights because of his boring styles and the quality of his opponents that he had face.

Although Top Rank has the leverage as they have a champion in Loma now at 135 lbs. And so if Shakur is looking for a great payday and a chance to fight one of the best in Loma, maybe he needs to reconsider his decision as he might not get Loma.

[pawel7777]

Here are the odds for the full card of the Bivol Vs Zinad next week:

Dmitry Bivol x1.06 vs. Malik Zinad x12.50
Daniel Dubois x2.70 vs. Filip Hrgovic x1.44
Zhilei Zhang x1.61 vs. Deontay Wilder x2.28
Nick Ball x2.38 vs. Ray Ford x1.57
Hamzah Sheeraz x1.44 vs. Austin Williams x2.75
Willy Hutchinson x2.07 vs. Craig Richards x1.73

Which of the above would you consider a good value bet?
I think it's possible that Wilder will redeem himself and could find a way to finish Zhang. Are odds of x2.28 good enough to make such bet? I'm not convinced.

[TravelMug]

Here are the odds for the full card of the Bivol Vs Zinad next week:

Dmitry Bivol x1.06 vs. Malik Zinad x12.50
Daniel Dubois x2.70 vs. Filip Hrgovic x1.44
Zhilei Zhang x1.61 vs. Deontay Wilder x2.28
Nick Ball x2.38 vs. Ray Ford x1.57
Hamzah Sheeraz x1.44 vs. Austin Williams x2.75
Willy Hutchinson x2.07 vs. Craig Richards x1.73

Which of the above would you consider a good value bet?
I think it's possible that Wilder will redeem himself and could find a way to finish Zhang. Are odds of x2.28 good enough to make such bet? I'm not convinced.

I do agree, looking at this card and the odds, Wilder being the under dog at 2.xx, that is already a very attractive odd as this could be a close fight as we all know that Wilder also have that one punch knockout and so Zhang is not safe to be the betting favorite. And again, stamina is a big factor against Zhang here, chances for him should be in the first half of the fight. If Wilder was able to overcome and survived, he has a great chance to win by knockout as Zhang might get tired. The Under/Over rounds is 6.5 so that's about right and that is the round that I'm seeing here.

[pawel7777]

There were some speculations on whether or not the IBF will introduce an interim belt for the Hrgovic Vs Dubois fight, but with only one day to go and with no news in this matter, it's safe to say this won't be the case. I don't think interim championship would make much sense. I think what we are more likely to see is the IBF stripping Usyk before the fight between the winner of Hrgovic/Dubois and Anthony Joshua.

As for the Bivol Vs. Zinad - is there anyone here thinking that Zinad could have some chance here? Despite his 22-0 record and being ranked 8th in the world, he's as much of an underdog as it gets. He's probably going to get a payday of his life just for showing up so it's already a win for him in a sense. But can he shock the world and actually win?

[Jating]

There were some speculations on whether or not the IBF will introduce an interim belt for the Hrgovic Vs Dubois fight, but with only one day to go and with no news in this matter, it's safe to say this won't be the case. I don't think interim championship would make much sense. I think what we are more likely to see is the IBF stripping Usyk before the fight between the winner of Hrgovic/Dubois and Anthony Joshua.

As for the Bivol Vs. Zinad - is there anyone here thinking that Zinad could have some chance here? Despite his 22-0 record and being ranked 8th in the world, he's as much of an underdog as it gets. He's probably going to get a payday of his life just for showing up so it's already a win for him in a sense. But can he shock the world and actually win?

For the Bivol vs Zinad - of course there is a possibility of a upset, it's slim though as Bivol is a huge underdog here. But looking at Zinad's record, yeah he might be undefeated, but the quality of his opponents though, as compare to Bivol who had fought some great names in his resume already including Canelo Alvarez. So no offense to the fans of Zinad, but it's going to take a lot from him to win and hit that "lucky" punch to win by knockout.

That is the only way that I can see him winning here, if it is close rounds, I doubt that the judges are going to score it in his favor. He needs to show dominance and as I have said, he doesn't want to let the judges decide it so he should go for a miracle knockout win.

[pawel7777]

So no offense to the fans of Zinad, but it's going to take a lot from him to win and hit that "lucky" punch to win by knockout.
That is the only way that I can see him winning here,(...)

Pretty much agree, although he could also win by Bivol's disqualification or injury (e.g. taking a "bad step" and hurting a knee or something). But I still have respect for Zinad for stepping in to replace Beterbiev and putting his "zero" on the line to make this fight happen.

In other news. Jake Paul Vs Mike Tyson fight will be postponed to a yet unknown date, due to Mike's health problems (ulcer flare-up) that prevent him from training for a few weeks.
More info here: https://www.skysports.com/boxing/news/12183/13146341/jake-paul-vs-mike-tyson-boxing-fight-postponed-with-new-date-expected-to-be-announced-in-early-june

According to the article Tyson has said: "My body is in better overall shape than it has been since the 1990s, and I will be back to my full training schedule soon", which, to me, indicates that he might be a bit deluded about himself and refuses to acknowledge that he's old and will never be anywhere near to where he was in his prime.

[Kemarit]

There were some speculations on whether or not the IBF will introduce an interim belt for the Hrgovic Vs Dubois fight, but with only one day to go and with no news in this matter, it's safe to say this won't be the case. I don't think interim championship would make much sense. I think what we are more likely to see is the IBF stripping Usyk before the fight between the winner of Hrgovic/Dubois and Anthony Joshua.

As for the Bivol Vs. Zinad - is there anyone here thinking that Zinad could have some chance here? Despite his 22-0 record and being ranked 8th in the world, he's as much of an underdog as it gets. He's probably going to get a payday of his life just for showing up so it's already a win for him in a sense. But can he shock the world and actually win?

For the Bivol vs Zinad - of course there is a possibility of a upset, it's slim though as Bivol is a huge underdog here. But looking at Zinad's record, yeah he might be undefeated, but the quality of his opponents though, as compare to Bivol who had fought some great names in his resume already including Canelo Alvarez. So no offense to the fans of Zinad, but it's going to take a lot from him to win and hit that "lucky" punch to win by knockout.

And there was no upset here, Bivol clearly outclassed Zinad in this fight and stop him at 6. I do agree with @pawel7777, Zinad has the balls to take Beterbiev's place against the champion here. But he was no match as Bivol is simply too good to be upset by the likes of Zinad.

And regarding the Zhang vs Wilder, I took Wilder by ML, just scares me to see him very trim in this fight and there are a huge disparity as far as weight goes. Perhaps he is looking to dance around, but he is not known to be technical. Or maybe he wants this fight to go full 12 rounds to tire Zhang and win by decision by scoring points from the middle rounds.

[AliMan]

There were some speculations on whether or not the IBF will introduce an interim belt for the Hrgovic Vs Dubois fight, but with only one day to go and with no news in this matter, it's safe to say this won't be the case. I don't think interim championship would make much sense. I think what we are more likely to see is the IBF stripping Usyk before the fight between the winner of Hrgovic/Dubois and Anthony Joshua.

As for the Bivol Vs. Zinad - is there anyone here thinking that Zinad could have some chance here? Despite his 22-0 record and being ranked 8th in the world, he's as much of an underdog as it gets. He's probably going to get a payday of his life just for showing up so it's already a win for him in a sense. But can he shock the world and actually win?

That's the biggest questions for so many these days, even greatest analyst couldn't figure it out since these fighters has so many advantages with each other. But somehow I would prefer to choose one and I bet for Bivol for now, I'm not saying Zinad couldn't make its just that I can see him less effective than Bivol.

[inthelongrun]

...
@inthelongrun - it's inevitable though, but Ukrainians are champion right now at 135 lbs. So it can only make sense if they are going to fight and put aside their nationality. But let's see, I mean if they are going to be forced by governing body or if the fight really make sense for the money, then for sure they will go and oblige to face each other in the future. At least in the end, it will still be the Ukrainians that are going to win.

The governing bodies have no right to issue or force unifications so it will be about the money for sure. And as you said, the winner will still be a Ukrainian. But so far, Berinchyk is the least popular among champions consisting of Loma, Tank and Shakur. Tank has the biggest fanbase but we'll see if he is interested in unifying the belts. I felt bad or annoyed on Tank because he keeps on ducking the other champions. He is nearing 30 already. He is so rich but without solid accomplishments he will be forgotten once he retires.

I think they do, they can enforce or stripped anyone if they wanted, but the thing is that they don't want to. We all love to see Tank against those champion and I think even Berinchyk will have a good chance. However, I do agree that Davis is just contented of fighting nobody maybe except Ryan Garcia but we all know that Ryan is dehydrated on that fight. Although Frank Martin is a decent fight for him, nothing is better than facing champion or a unification fight. But his camp doesn't want to risk his 0.

It will be a dream come true if the 4 major boxing organizations will change their rules and force their champions to face each other. It will surely make the sport better and more exciting. They tried meeting each other with regards to unifications before but they always came up empty and no agreements.

Tank is pretty sure offended by Alalshikh's laughing and mentioning about sending a pair of gloves instead of a Ferrari. So I am not expecting for Tank to cooperate easily if Alalshikh proposes unifications. The same thing with Canelo who already rejected Alalshikh's proposal to fight Crawford.

[AmoreJaz]

Here are the odds for the full card of the Bivol Vs Zinad next week:

Dmitry Bivol x1.06 vs. Malik Zinad x12.50
Daniel Dubois x2.70 vs. Filip Hrgovic x1.44
Zhilei Zhang x1.61 vs. Deontay Wilder x2.28
Nick Ball x2.38 vs. Ray Ford x1.57
Hamzah Sheeraz x1.44 vs. Austin Williams x2.75
Willy Hutchinson x2.07 vs. Craig Richards x1.73

Which of the above would you consider a good value bet?
I think it's possible that Wilder will redeem himself and could find a way to finish Zhang. Are odds of x2.28 good enough to make such bet? I'm not convinced.

I do agree, looking at this card and the odds, Wilder being the under dog at 2.xx, that is already a very attractive odd as this could be a close fight as we all know that Wilder also have that one punch knockout and so Zhang is not safe to be the betting favorite. And again, stamina is a big factor against Zhang here, chances for him should be in the first half of the fight. If Wilder was able to overcome and survived, he has a great chance to win by knockout as Zhang might get tired. The Under/Over rounds is 6.5 so that's about right and that is the round that I'm seeing here.

I thought Wilder will be the bookies' favourite here. So yeah, 2.x odds is indeed an attractive one for Wilder. If you feel Wilder will come out as winner, definitely, even 2.x odds is already good enough. That's more than double your bet money.
And between Bivol and Zinad, we can say, Bivol is heavy favourite on this match, no doubt. But if you fancy an upset, that's 12.50x in favour for Zinad!

[stadus]

I thought Wilder will be the bookies' favourite here. So yeah, 2.x odds is indeed an attractive one for Wilder. If you feel Wilder will come out as winner, definitely, even 2.x odds is already good enough. That's more than double your bet money.

Wilder is a good boxer to bet against with, he mess up his last figh prior to this one where he was a heavy favorite, so how can we trust now that he is the underdog. The social media is just hyping Wilder's name but in reality he is done in boxing, and now that it has been proven once again, I think there's no more fight for him waiting.

Zhang is an underrated boxer, I believe he deserve another championsip fight despite of his age, or if he will not choose to retire after this. Maybe Zhang vs AJ would be fun to watch, what do you think?

And between Bivol and Zinad, we can say, Bivol is heavy favourite on this match, no doubt. But if you fancy an upset, that's 12.50x in favour for Zinad!

I didn't bother to watch this fight but I like how aggressive Zinad was, though it cost him an L.

[pawel7777]

And there was no upset here, Bivol clearly outclassed Zinad in this fight and stop him at 6. I do agree with @pawel7777, Zinad has the balls to take Beterbiev's place against the champion here. But he was no match as Bivol is simply too good to be upset by the likes of Zinad.

I think Zinad has gained a lot after that fight despite his first loss. I don't think many of us have ever heard about him before the fight was announced, so he gained a lot in terms of name recognition. I would imagine he got a payday of his lifetime, maybe enough to set him up for life, so he can't complain in this matter. In terms of performance, he didn't avoid exchanges and looked like he believed in his skills and was looking for a win rather than just to survive, that's what boxing fans like the most. And, he can always use the short notice as an excuse or blame the referee for premature stoppage as he didn't fall down etc.

But yeah, Bivol was just on another level and so it ended as expected. This was his first KO/TKO win since 2018.

[TravelMug]

Here are the odds for the full card of the Bivol Vs Zinad next week:

Dmitry Bivol x1.06 vs. Malik Zinad x12.50
Daniel Dubois x2.70 vs. Filip Hrgovic x1.44
Zhilei Zhang x1.61 vs. Deontay Wilder x2.28
Nick Ball x2.38 vs. Ray Ford x1.57
Hamzah Sheeraz x1.44 vs. Austin Williams x2.75
Willy Hutchinson x2.07 vs. Craig Richards x1.73

Which of the above would you consider a good value bet?
I think it's possible that Wilder will redeem himself and could find a way to finish Zhang. Are odds of x2.28 good enough to make such bet? I'm not convinced.

I do agree, looking at this card and the odds, Wilder being the under dog at 2.xx, that is already a very attractive odd as this could be a close fight as we all know that Wilder also have that one punch knockout and so Zhang is not safe to be the betting favorite. And again, stamina is a big factor against Zhang here, chances for him should be in the first half of the fight. If Wilder was able to overcome and survived, he has a great chance to win by knockout as Zhang might get tired. The Under/Over rounds is 6.5 so that's about right and that is the round that I'm seeing here.

I thought Wilder will be the bookies' favourite here. So yeah, 2.x odds is indeed an attractive one for Wilder. If you feel Wilder will come out as winner, definitely, even 2.x odds is already good enough. That's more than double your bet money.
And between Bivol and Zinad, we can say, Bivol is heavy favourite on this match, no doubt. But if you fancy an upset, that's 12.50x in favour for Zinad!

Yep, but unfortunately, we didn't see any upset on the Zhang vs Wilder as Deontay was knockout by Zhang in round 6. That big odds on Wilder though, for sure some of us have fallen on it. Wilder is so light in this fight and obviously didn't have his power against a bigger Zhang who just manhandled him. I might gave the first round to Wilder but that's it.

Zhang is too power, and I will say as well that he has underrated speed, at fight glance you can't see his punch, but in the replay you can see that it was very quick and the moment in landed flush on Wilder's jaw it was over.

Good fight for Bivol, as Zinad put him to the test and as least he had this tune up before the bigger Beterbiev fight.