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Oscar De La Hoya vs Manny Pacquiao Betting Promo

Here's a great deal if you're betting on Oscar De La Hoya (-170).  If ODLH gets KOed by PacMan you get your bet refunded up to $500.  Not bad.

De La Hoya vs Pacquiao Preview

The era of big-money boxing matches isn’t over yet. Saturday night’s card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will be shown live on HBO pay-per-view, and it features one of the biggest attractions ever to set foot in the squared circle: Oscar De La Hoya. His 2007 fight against Floyd Mayweather drew a record 2.2 million PPV buys and $120 million in revenue. Even in today’s economy, De La Hoya’s bout with Manny Pacquiao is expected to be far and away the top money fight of 2008.

What people will see when they tune in remains something of a mystery – which only adds to the intrigue. This is simply not your typical matchup. De La Hoya is a light middleweight whose last two fights were at the 150-pound mark. Pacquiao, the Ring Magazine No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer in the world, is the WBC lightweight champion at 135 pounds, taking the strap from David Diaz in June after moving up from the super featherweight class. Saturday’s fight is a non-title bout at the welterweight limit of 147 pounds.

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The size advantage De La Hoya is bringing into the ring is enough to make him the –175 favorite at press time (for current lines, visit sports.bodoglife.com). It’s also enough for many insiders – including De La Hoya’s former partner at Golden Boy Productions, noted Mexican boxer Marco Antonio Barrera – to compare this matchup to a circus sideshow. It might not be as obvious a mismatch as, say, Primo Carnera vs. Jack Sharkey, but the extra 20-30 pounds De La Hoya is carrying give him a major advantage in this fight.

Here is the tale of the tape for both men:

De La Hoya

Age: 35
Record: 39-5 (30 KO)
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 5-foot-10 1/2
Reach: 73 inches

Pacquiao

Age: 29
Record: 47-3-2 (35 KO)
Stance: Southpaw
Height: 5-foot-6 1/2
Reach: 67 inches

Barrera, a former opponent of Pacquiao’s, thinks that De La Hoya will win by knockout in just two rounds. The over/under for rounds in this 12-round fight is 9.5, with the over priced at –185. The props market has odds of –160 that the fight won’t go the distance. A second-round KO by the Golden Boy would pay out at 20-1; De La Hoya is pegged at 29-20 to win by KO, TKO or DQ and 8-5 to win by decision. Pacquiao is the +145 underdog to win and a –170 chalk to get knocked down or out. It’s easy to see why Pacquiao’s wife and mother were said to be against this fight taking place when negotiations began.

Again, this is where the intrigue comes in. Pacquiao carries the respected mantle of best P4P fighter in the world. He’s a southpaw, and De La Hoya hasn’t fought a lefty since beating Hector “Macho” Camacho in 1997, back when the Golden Boy was The Ring’s P4P champion. Pacquiao has won his last eight fights in a row with an improved counterpunching repertoire to go along with his lightning-fast left-right combo. And for a smaller fighter, Pacquiao throws with a lot of power. He knocked out Erik Morales twice to avenge his last loss back in 2005, also at the MGM Grand – Pacquiao is staying at Mandalay Bay this week because of that result.

There’s also the question of desire. This is Pacquiao’s biggest payday ever, easily reaching eight figures. If he wins, they will back up the money truck again for a fight against Ricky Hatton. If he loses, it’s back to the lower weight classes and the lower paydays. De La Hoya is nearing the end of his career and has more money than he can count. He bought Ring Magazine last year. He has his own clothing line. There’s nothing left for De La Hoya to prove.

All of Pacquiao’s positive attributes aren’t enough to keep insiders from treating this fight like it’s a foregone conclusion. That kind of consensus usually comes with shorter odds than De La Hoya is getting in this fight. Mayweather was a –200 favorite against the Golden Boy last year. In comparison, Saturday’s favorite is a compelling value pick in a sport where underdogs take a literal beating.

Oscar De La Hoya vs Manny Pacquiao Lock Pick

Okay BetUS Sportsbook boxing bettors, this Saturday’s fight between 35-year-old Oscar De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) and 29-year-old Manny Pacquiao, (47-3-2, 35 KOs) offers pro boxing sports betting enthusiasts an excellent opportunity to increase your respective season bankroll earnings with a simple wager on what promises to be one of the best ‘mega-fights’ this year.

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BetUS boxing aficionados that have followed my last two boxing selections in the BetUS Locker Room, know that, not only am I a perfect 2-0 on those selections, but more importantly have predicted the outcomes of each bout with stunning accuracy!

Now, back again with a simple ‘Holiday Season’ selection, I’ve got the answers on the outcome of this matchup as well.

First, let’s take a look at the Tale of the Tape for both fighters, followed by my in-depth analysis and BetUS Boxing Free Pick:

Oscar De La Hoya

Birthplace: East LA, California
Record - W-L-D (KO): 39-5-0 (30)
Last 10 fights: 7-3-0 (4)
Trainer (venue): Ignacio Beristain (Big Bear)
Age (Birthdate): 35 (04 Feb 1973)
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 5′ 10 1/2″
Reach: 72″

Manny Pacquiao

Birthplace: Gen. Santos, Philippines
Record - W-L-D (KO): 47-3-2 (36)
Last 10 fights: 9-1-0 (6)
Trainer (venue): Freddie Roach (Wild Card Gym)
Age (Birthdate): 29 (12 Dec 1978)
Stance: Southpaw
Height: 5′ 6 1/2″
Reach: 67″

The Scoop: Everyone knows the story of the 35-year-old De La Hoya, the former 1992 Summer Olympic Games gold medalist who has routinely set box-office records during his spectacular career.

De La Hoya has been a champion in every weight class ranging from the junior lightweight division to the middleweight ranks.

Pacquiao is a national hero now in his native Philippines and is generally recognized by many boxing buffs as arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.

The left-handed Pacquiao has shown incredible knockout power in four different weight classes, but will be making a big jump from the 135-pound lightweight division to the 147-pound welterweight class to take on De La Hoya.

Analysis: I’m going to keep it real for my beloved BetUS boxing bettors and admit that I don’t even think it’s fair that De La Hoya is being allowed to fight the much smaller Pacquiao.

Pacquiao started out boxing at just 106 pounds, reaching a high of his current, optimal fighting weight of 135 pounds, not long ago.

However, Pacquiao has been forced to put on an additional 12 pounds just in order to be able to meet De La Hoya at a weight the bigger, naturally heavier boxer has fought at earlier in his career.

While De La Hoya has alternated wins and losses over each of his last seven fights, I can emphatically state De La Hoya will put that alarming trend to and end on Saturday with an emphatic disposal of Pacquiao.

I absolutely love Pacquiao’s ability, courage and heart, and he may even be a better fighter than De La Hoya at this point in their respective careers, but I think he goes down hard in this contest against De La Hoya, simply because of the weight and height factors.

Pacquiao’s knockout power likely won’t bother the bigger De La Hoya, while conversely, once the ‘Golden Boy’ catches Pacquiao, it could be ‘lights out.’

Don’t worry BetUS boxing sports bettors Oscar De La Hoya is going to win – and win big!

Boxing Odds

Oscar de la Hoya -225

Manny Pacquiao +175

The Pick: Oscar De La Hoya By TKO

Oscar De La Hoya vs Manny Pacquiao too break PPV Record?

Boxing betting sharps and online sportsbooks alike are preparing for arguably the fight of the year, and one that experts are predicting to break PPV records. WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao will step up to a 147-pound catchweight to fight Oscar De La Hoya, and boxing betting odds have given “The Golden Boy” a -210 betting edge this Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

De La Hoya (39-5-0-0, 30 KOs) has won only three times in his last six fights, and his last bout before beating Steve Forbes in 12 rounds was his loss to Floyd Mayweather, in which “Pretty Boy” made De La Hoya look old and slow. Forbes was supposed to be easy picking for De La Hoya, and while he did fight well, he is going to have to bring his “A” game against Pacquiao.

Pacquiao (47-3-2-0, 35 KOs) has won his last eight fights, including back in June when he took the lightweight title from David Diaz. Pacquiao has a lot of power, and he is obviously quick as a lightweight, but he is going from 114 to 147 pounds for his big-money fight. He has also to be patient, and study tapes of the Mayweather fight, to take advantage of De La Hoya’s declining quickness.

Joe Calzaghe vs Roy Jones Odds and Analysis

BetUS boxing enthusiasts may not know that I emphatically selected my fellow Philadelphia ‘homeboy’ Bernard Hopkins to destroy undefeated middleweight Kelly Pavlik in their Oct. 18 non-title bout, but it’s true!

ESPN readers who skimmed through some of the boxing comments posted by readers prior to that fight knew my feelings on the outcome of that bout, which turned out to be right on the bull’s-eye.

While my beloved BetUS Sportsbook boxing bettors didn’t get the privilege of my pugilistic prowess, I can assure BetUS online boxing sports betting members that won’t happen again as I plan to weigh in on every upcoming fight of consequence in an effort to aid bettors increase their respective boxing bankrolls.

Now that I’ve gotten that long-winded spiel out of my system, let me share my feelings on this Saturday’s mega-fight between undefeated European super-middleweight Joe Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KOs) and widely-respected former world champion heavyweight and light-heavyweight showman, Roy Jones Jr. (52-4, 38 KOs).

I’ll come right out and say the same thing I did to my wonderful BetUS Locker Room editor a few days ago – that ‘Super’ Joe Calzaghe is going to kick Jones’, ‘you-know-what’ all the way from the bout’s Madison Square Garden location back to Calzaghe’s hometown in Great Britain England.

Calzaghe's last fight was a split-decision victory over the legendary Hopkins in Las Vegas April 19, 2007 in which he got off the floor from a first round knockdown to win with a stellar second half against the person I believe is the world’s greatest athlete in any sport.

Now, Calzaghe gets Jones, who will make his first significant fight since a string of three consecutive losses at light-heavyweight to Antonio Tarver, Glen Johnson and Tarver again in 2004-05, including two emphatic knockouts, robbed him of his air of invincibility.

"This opportunity is a long time coming and after I beat Hopkins in April, there was only one fight I wanted next and that was Roy Jones", said Calzaghe. "Once again I am willing to go to America and fight him in his own country. None of that matters to me as I have always believed in my abilities to fight and beat the best in the game."

"To fight two American legends back-to-back is right where I want my career to be at this stage," said Calzaghe. "I plan on remaining undefeated with a victory over Roy Jones just like the Hopkins fight."

Despite the fact that I have a serious dislike for the loud-mouthed, showboating Jones his comeback trail from those three losses has been spotty at best.

Jones Jr. scored decision wins over Prince Ajamu and Anthony Hanshaw taking place a year apart and managed to out-point the much smaller Felix Trinidad in New York last January.

Now he faces the unbeaten Calzaghe while trying to take the Ring Magazine belt as undisputed light-heavyweight champion that the Welshman earned by narrowly beating Hopkins.

Jones, who says he will never fight Hopkins, (he’s scared bettors) says Calzaghe’s legacy, not his own, is at stake in this bout.

"A loss for Joe would be much more significant to him than a win would be for me," Jones Jr. said. "Winning would be good for me but losing would really ruin his record.

Here is my brief tale of the tape, along with some analysis on each boxer as well as the outcome of the fight:

Size: Jones has won titles at multiple weights and seems to be comfortable at light-heavyweight. Calzaghe also looks like he’s comfortable in this weight-class so there really won’t be much of a difference here.

Power: Calzaghe’s got big-time power and Jones has shown in recent years, that when hit hard, he has a glass jaw while Jones hasn’t knocked any fighter out in over six years.

Speed: Both fighters have absolutely blazing hand speed so getting into which boxer has the faster hands is silly if you ask me.

Age: Calzaghe is 36 and has shown that going the distance is clearly not a problem. Jones Jr. is 39, but may wear down with all of his fancy footwork in the later rounds. Tired legs means less punching power and more of a chance of getting knocked out.

Brains: Ha! Get real! Calzaghe is a thinking man’s fighter more along the lines of Hopkins while Jones Jr. always relied on his superior talent to dominate opponent. Calzaghe holds the clear edge in this category.

Boxing Odds

Joe Calzaghe -300

Roy Jones Jr. +220

Over 9½ -350

Under 9 ½ +250

The Pick: I’m making this pick emphatically! I like Calzaghe to not only win this fight, but also stop Jones before this fight ends with a flurry of punches in one of the later rounds.

Let’s call this a knockout for Calzaghe in the 10th round.

Calzaghe 10th round K.O.

Roy Jones vs Joe Calzaghe Betting

Roy Jones Jr. returns to the ring for the first time in almost a year and while he’s an underdog, oddsmakers are giving the aging boxer a chance.
The 36-year-old is listed at +205 odds as the pundits obviously expect he can match the undefeated Joe Calzaghe this Saturday on HBO pay-per-view.
Don’t miss a second of this highly anticipated fight. Britain’s Calzaghe is a -265 favorite with his Ring Magazine Light Heavyweight belt on the line. The Over/Under in rounds is 11.5.

There are also several other fights that night including an IBF middleweight championship fight from Germany. Arthur Abraham (27-0, 22 KO’s) is -1300 chalk over Raul Marquez (41-3-1, 27 KO’s).

Jones Jr. (52-4, 38 KO’s) remains one of the biggest names in boxing and is arguably the best boxer of his generation.

He had only one loss in his brilliant career until he hit the skids in 2004-2005 losing to Antonio Tarver, Glen Johnson and then Tarver again. The first two of those defeats were by knockout while the second loss to Tarver was a unanimous decision in which Jones Jr. seemed happy to simply survive the bout rather than trade punches.

Jones Jr. has rebounded since with three straight wins over Prince Badi Ajamu, Anthony Hanshaw and Felix Trinidad (coming last January). While the competition was hardly impressive, the victories re-ignited his career and earned him another shot in a spotlight fight.

Calzaghe (45-0, 32 KO’s) is the former super middleweight champion who is fighting in the United States for just the second time. He’s coming of a split decision win over Bernard Hopkins in April in Las Vegas. Calzaghe was knocked down in the opening round but rebounded to earn a controversial split decision.

Hopkins may be 43 years-old but his win over Kelly Pavlik last month showed he has a lot left in the tank and lends more credence to Calzaghe’s win.

The 36 year-old Brit says he wants to retire after this fight, but he doesn’t want to go out a loser and is not going to the 39 year-old Jones Jr. for granted.
"This is redemption for him so you can't write Roy Jones off,” Calzaghe said. “He's in great shape, the best he's been in for years, so I can't go in there sloppy like I did with Hopkins or else I'm heading for trouble."
Jones Jr. was invigorated by Hopkins’ win as it showed what he can accomplish if he stays motivated and in shape.
"He's been throwing punches since yesterday and I've been ducking and dodging them in my sleep because that's what he does,” said Jones Jr.
“Come Saturday night, though, we're going to see how he's going to deal with me."
Jones’ comments have a ring of truth to them as many of the experts don’t feel Calzaghe has the power to hurt him and that makes him a very attractive underdog at +205.

Boxing Odds Roy Jones vs Felix Trinidad

Two of the better fighters we've seen in boxing over the last 15 years will tangle on Saturday night in New York's Madison Square Garden as Roy Jones, a former middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, locks horns with Felix Trinidad, who has held titles in the welterweight, junior middleweight and middleweight divisions.

The fight is a non-title affair and is being fought at a weight limit of 170 pounds.

BetUS boxing betting odds:

Light Heavyweights

January 19 -- New York City

ROY JONES, JR. -350

FELIX TRINIDAD +280

UNDER 11.5 ROUNDS -155

OVER 11.5 ROUNDS +115

For betting purposes, let's size up the contestants:

JONES (51-4, 38 KO's), the -350 favorite in the BetUS boxing betting odds, was once the consensus #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and was so dominant over the light heavyweights that he ventured into the heavyweight class, easily beating John Ruiz for the WBA title in March of 2003. Many thought at that time that Jones might go down as one of the all-time greats.

What happened was that Jones went down, period.

He was knocked out in two rounds by Antonio Tarver in May of '04, then knocked out again, this time by Glen Johnson, four months later. After an attempt to win the 175-lb. crown back from Tarver failed, Jones was inactive until July of 2006, when he scored a decision over Prince Badi Ajamu before a sparse crowd in Boise, Idaho. His last fight was a twelve-round decision over previously unbeaten Anthony Hanshaw on July 14 of last year. All told, Jones has fought twice in the last year and a half.

TRINIDAD (42-2, 35 KO's), the +280 underdog at BetUS, hasn't fought in a period of 32 months, since he was severely outclassed by Winky Wright in May of 2005. Trinidad, who put the first loss on Oscar De La Hoya's record in September 1999 and blasted out Ricardo Mayorga in a "comeback" fight in October of '04, has fought only twice in the last 68 months (that's five years and eight months, for those of you who grew up on calculators).

We don't want to do a retrospective of the two careers, because it would take too long. So in analyzing the fight, one must respect that Jones has been at least a little bit active. In fact, he's never really been "retired." Jones doesn't have nearly the speed he once had, but he has SOME speed nonetheless, which will be of some use to him, along with some elusiveness and a measure of ring savvy that he probably has never been given credit for. It bears mentioning, however, that if I had a proprietary interest in Roy's career, I would have been very worried about his third fight with Tarver, in which Jones actually had an opportunity to take an exhausted Tarver out and just couldn't pull the trigger.

And talk about pulling the trigger, is that something Trinidad will be able to do after so much time off? I can not confess to being a big fan of Trinidad. Not that I did not consider him a good fighter, but I did not share the wild enthusiasm everyone had for him when he was in his “prime.” That’s because Felix has always been a methodical, often mechanical fighter who has had a tendency to stumble when the opponent makes him improvise. He is most at home when a guy is standing in front of him. Well, that didn't happen in his hotly-disputed decision over De La Hoya, and Oscar made him look silly at times. So did Bernard Hopkins, who made him look like an amateur. And Wright, who stood in front of him but was impossible to hit, made a mockery of him. Now Trinidad, after all this time off, is coming back at a weight that is ten pounds more than any weight class where he has ever registered a win.

When you can’t adapt when the opponent is throwing a few curve balls at you, you are not a great fighter. And as the legendary boxing muckraker Flash Gordon used to say, a shot great fighter should usually beat a shot good fighter.

Jones doesn’t have the great fastball, but he can still throw some junk pitches. So you just know that if anybody is going to stay off the beaten path and make Trinidad improvise, it is Jones. No, we're not sure he's got very much left. But Hanshaw, the last opponent, was not a pushover, so he's likely got enough to make life miserable for Trinidad on this night.

We're with Jones, the -350 favorite in the BetUS boxing betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: JONES (-350) ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

Charles Jay

Mayweather vs Hatton- Boxing Props

You can't really bet boxing propositions based on statistical data alone. There has to be a little instinct involved too. So maybe a long-time boxing observer and industry veteran can try to combine a little of both, in tackling some of the boxing proposition wagers available through BetUS Sportsbook for the Floyd Mayweather-Ricky Hatton fight set for Saturday, December 8.

BetUS Boxing Betting Odds

WBC Welterweight (147-lb.) title

December 8 -- Las Vegas

FLOYD MAYWEATHER -240

RICKY HATTON +190

Over 11.5 Rounds -300

Under 11.5 Rounds +200

Some of them have a bit of a wide spread. For example, will the fight go over 3.5 rounds?

OVER 3.5 ROUNDS -6500

UNDER 3.5 ROUNDS +1400

Okay, we're not going to go to the bank on this one. But I can tell you that the last time a fight with Floyd Mayweather went under 3.5 rounds was in December of 1998, when he stopped Angel Manfredy in two rounds. And he's had 19 fights and three jumps in weight since. Mayweather has stopped only one opponent in the first four rounds in a title fight. As for Hatton, the last fight he had that went under that figure was in December of 2002, when he stopped Joe Hutchinson early in the fourth. Since it would be kind of foolish for either guy to throw too much caution to the winds early in this fight, I think it's safe to say that unless an accident happens, we are looking at a fight longer than 3.5 rounds.

But - what about 6.5 rounds?

OVER 6.5 ROUNDS -900

UNDER 6.5 ROUNDS +450

In Mayweather's last 16 fights, two of them went just six rounds. And in another, he stopped Phillip N'Dou in 1:08 of the 7th before a hometown crowd in Grand Rapids. Nine of Hatton's 14 KO's in title fights have been accomplished within the first six rounds. But can he take Mayweather out during this period? Don't think so. My own particular opinion is that Mayweather is more than willing to extract an advantage in boxing ability, and so he won't be in any hurry to knock Hatton out. And since Hatton should not be confused with the more limited Arturo Gatti, don't expect him to fold up when hit. This is an "over."

In fact, if you're looking for "trends," like you would in a football game, consider that Mayweather's last three fights, and six of his last eight title fights, have gone the distance, and that, at 147 pounds, Hatton has had just one fight, and that one (against the light-punching, slick Luis Collazo) went the 12-round route as well.

Looking for controversy?

MAYWEATHER TO WIN ON POINTS BY SPLIT DECISION +700

HATTON TO WIN ON POINTS BY SPLIT DECISION +1500

These are "one-way" props, which mean you can't bet that it WON'T occur. I don't know what to tell you on these, except that if you like Hatton, these are probably both worth a small play. here are some stats for you, though: Mayweather has won 14 decisions in his career, and only the last one, against the naturally bigger Oscar De La Hoya, has been by split nod. And I'm not so sure that wasn't charitable toward Oscar. As for Hatton, none of his 12 decision wins have been split. And several of those were with only the referee rendering a scorecard (dome in the U.K.).

And by the way - there is a "3-way line" available at BetUS as well. If you bet the two-way "to win" prop where Mayweather is -240 and Hatton is +190, the draw is a stalemate, where you will get your money back. However, you can also bet the fight on the basis of a three-way.

MAYWEATHER -220

HATTON +170

DRAW +1600

If you like Mayweather in this fight, it makes sense to bet the three-way, since you get a better price (-220) than otherwise (-240). Conversely, you do not get a better price with Hatton (+170) than in the two-way (+190). But, if you bet Mayweather or Hatton and the fight ends up in a draw, only the draw bettors get paid and everyone else loses. Got it?

-Charles Jay

Bet on Boxing- Mayweather vs Hatton

Since the scores Yes folks, you CAN bet the pointspread on a professional fight. And I'm going to show you how this works.

BetUS Boxing Betting Odds:

WBC Welterweight (147-lb.) title

December 8 -- Las Vegas

FLOYD MAYWEATHER -240

RICKY HATTON +190

Over 11.5 Rounds -300

Under 11.5 Rounds +200

If you have read any previous pieces by me, you know that I like Mayweather to win this fight, but not necessarily without a struggle. And I think it will go the distance. That brings the scorecards into play. In addition to all the other betting options, BetUS has boxing propositions for this as well. Here are a couple of them:

MAYWEATHER -19.5 pts. +200

HATTON +19.5 pts. -300

MAYWEATHER -29.5 pts. +300

HATTON +29.5 pts. -500

Since I practically invented this kind of proposition about 20 years ago, I think I can explain it sufficiently. You just take the three judges' scorecards at the end of the fight, add them up, and calculate the difference. Therefore, for example, if Mayweather wins the fight by ten points on all three judges's scorecards, he wins by 30 points, and beats the -29.5. Another example is admittedly bizarre, but illustrative of an instance where the winner of the fight can be the loser of this prop, even if it's straight-up. In a 1979 fight between Carlos Zarate and Lupe Pintor, Pintor won by one point on two of the judges' cards and lost by 12 points on the other! In this case he would have been the LOSER by 10 points in the proposition, though he was the winner of the fight itself.

Another thing I should mention - if either of the two fighters wins by a KO, TKO, disqualification or technical decision (which usually happens when the fight is stopped on an accidental cut and the commission goes to the scorecards at the time of the stoppage), the fighter who wins the fight as a result will be the winner of the proposition, regardless of what the scoring is at the time of the stoppage.

Let's get back to the pointspread props in front of us. When you look at the fight Mayweather has won by a near-shutout, at least on a championship level, they involve fighters who were limited enough where they would be dominated by the Pretty Boy. For instance, Carlos Baldomir, who fought Mayweather last November, lost by 32 total points (12 points on two cards and eight on the other). But since there was a difference of light years in terms of speed, Baldomir was the kind of fighter who was going to find himself befuddled unless he could just maul Floyd, which didn't happen. Mayweather was dominant against Zab Judah, but beat him by only 20 total points because Judah was fresh early and won some rounds with speed.

Mayweather beat DeMarcus Corley by 33 points a few years ago, but Corley, who has lost four of his six fights since, was going to be outclassed no matter what. Others, like Victoriano Sosa, Carlos Hernandez and Carlos Rios - all of which lost by ten points or more on at least one card to Mayweather - were not in Hatton's class. If you're going to back Floyd in this prop at -29.5, you'll probably have to hope for something along the lines of his performance against the late Diego Corrales, where he dominated virtually every second of every round against a formidable opponent before ending it in the 10th. I would back Hatton, even if I had to lay 5/1.

I would actually stay away from laying or taking 19.5 points. While I feel Mayweather is perfectly capable of getting past this threshold, I don't know that there is a 33.3% chance of it happening. And even though I wouldn't disqualify that we could see scorecards not unlike those in Floyd's fight with Oscar De La Hoya, I don't feel all that comfortable with Hatton taking that number.

One pointspread prop I DO like, though, is this one:

MAYWEATHER +6.5 -400

HATTON -6.5 +250

First of all, if Hatton wins this fight, I could only see him squeaking it out by the hair of his chinny-chin-chin. That may mean a split or majority decision, which would put us in very good shape with this prop. I do not think he will knock Mayweather out, and if Mayweather wins the fight, YOU will win.

Well, unless it's a repeat of the Pintor-Zarate fight.

Good luck.

-Charles Jay

Betting on Mayweather vs Hatton

On Saturday night, the last so-called "mega-fight" for 2007 will take place in Las Vegas, when Floyd Mayweather takes to the ring in a bout for the WBC welterweight title against the undefeated Brit, Ricky Hatton. What happens in this fight will go a long way toward determining what happens in 2008, unless, of course, Pretty Boy Floyd follows through on his occasional threat to make this his "retirement" bout.

So, is this the last hurrah for Mayweather, or the prelude to a rematch with Oscar De La Hoya, whose Golden Boy company is the lead promoter on this fight? We'll find that out soon enough, I suppose, but it has little impact on what we will see between the ropes this weekend.

BetUS boxing betting odds:

WBC Welterweight (147-lb.) title
December 8 -- Las Vegas

FLOYD MAYWEATHER -240
RICKY HATTON +190
Over 11.5 Rounds -300
Under 11.5 Rounds +200

For betting purposes, let's size up this matchup:

MAYWEATHER (38-0, 24 KO's), the -240 favorite at BetUS, is going through the same kind of thing Roy Jones experienced when he had established himself, through dazzling talent, as the consensus pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. There are many who do not like Mayweather's brand of flash, or his brash personality, which can turn downright surly, and which has landed him in legal difficulty from time to time. A constituency exists that wants to see the smirk wiped off his face. No one has done it yet, and seemingly when Pretty Boy Floyd has had most of the spotlight on him, he has come through with the most glittering performances. Sure, he struggled a bit with De La Hoya, but that was against a bigger guy and he did indeed win a clear decision on points.

But he thoroughly and completely dominated Diego Corrales in a junior lightweight fight in January 2001, in much the way Jones befuddled James Toney back in 1994, in crossing over to superstar status. And when Mayweather fought the popular Arturo Gatti a couple of years ago, he was scary in his precision, cutting up Gatti like a surgeon, and making him look like a mere amateur in the process.

I have talked to fans who are drawing analogies between the Gatti fight and this one. That's a mistake. Gatti, at 140 pounds, did not possess the skill, on the offensive or defensive side, that Hatton has. Furthermore, HATTON (43-0, 31 KO's), the +190 underdog at BetUS, is fresher, quicker, and much busier inside the ring. To be perfectly honest, we can not say with a high degree of certainty whether Hatton can take a big punch, because that is ultimately going to be the thing that precludes him from continuing to come forward. But at 147 pounds, does Floyd deliver one? It's doubtful. There haven't been any knockouts yet since Mayweather's foray into the welterweight division, and in those bouts with Carlos Baldomir and Zab Judah he seemed content to pile up points and win on the scorecards.

Provided they are still in or near the respective "primes" of their careers, I firmly believe that, as a rule, great fighters beat good fighters. In England, I know they believe Hatton to be an all-time great fighter. But he isn't. I do believe Mayweather is a great fighter, and most people who don't agree with that probably have a personal prejudice against the man.

In boxing, there are less in the way of participants than there were years ago, and so little depth within divisions that we often over-reward the mediocre. Consequently, some fighters who cheaply win world "titles" in two or three watered-down weight divisions may be looked upon as much better than they are, when in reality, they may be rather pedestrian when juxtaposed against past greats. Strangely, at the same time, a fighter who shows genuine greatness deserves to be appreciated, but often isn't, because in this day and age, a "star" doesn't demonstrate that by dominating one division for an extended period, but by moving up in one weight class after another and winning. That often takes him out of the division that serves him best. What results is that people might raise questions about Mayweather, who began his career as a 130-pounder, when he goes to 154 pounds to beat a De La Hoya, who had fought Bernard Hopkins for the middleweight crown just a year and a half before that. Crazy.

Here's the truth - Mayweather has just about everything; speed, power (though in limited quantity as he moves up), ring savvy, superior boxing ability and defense. Unlike Roy Jones, who won a lot of fights on athletic ability and lightning-fast hands and footwork, Mayweather is well-schooled and fundamentally sound as well. If you watch him closely, you'll see he does a lot of subtle things to take the advantage away from his opponent.

Mayweather can't really be beaten by anyone out there today. But he can certainly beat himself. The big difference between, say, Gatti and Hatton is that Mayweather could have loafed in the Gatti fight and still come out with the win, because his class level was so far above that of his opponent. Against Hatton, if he doesn't work hard, he could get knocked out, because this particular opponent is going to keep coming and he'll be throwing punches with some steam on them.

So the question is not whether Mayweather is a better fighter than Hatton, but whether he will come into this fight totally prepared and stay on his toes. I see no reason why he shouldn't, or why he wouldn't, and so, while I think Hatton has a chance to make him work for every minute of every round, Floyd will be equal to it. He will keep his distance, land two-punch combinations without being effectively countered, and create enough angles to keep Hatton off-balance.

JAY'S PLAYS:
MAYWEATHER TO WIN (-240) ***
OVER 11.5 ROUNDS *** (-300)
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

-Charles Jay