The WBO junior lightweight championship will be unified this Saturday as interim champion Shakur Stevenson takes on sitting champion Jamel Herring. This is the fourth title defense for Herring, while Stevenson looks to unify the interim strap that he won in June.
This WBO junior lightweight title fight is taking place on Saturday, October 23, at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. When it comes to Stevenson vs Herring odds, it is the interim champ who is the sizable favorite.
Online sportsbook Bovada has released its Herring vs Stevenson odds by listing the challenger as the -900 chalk while the current champ is the +500 underdog. These boxing betting lines mean that a $100 winning bet on Herring would profit you $500, while you would need to put up $900 to profit $100 with a winning wager on Stevenson.
Fighter | Odds |
---|---|
Jamel Herring | +500 |
Shakur Stevenson | -900 |
Odds as of October 22 at Bovada
To examine the odds for this fight further, Stevenson’s -900 line represents an implied win probability of 90.00 percent, while Herring’s odds have an implied win probability of 16.67 percent.
Followers of the junior lightweight division may be intrigued to bet the champion at the number of +500. This is the first time that “Semper Fi” has been an underdog during his title reign and represent the longest odds of his career. The only other time he was the plus-money option was the night he won the belt against Masayuki Ito as a +200 underdog.
The same argument could be made for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games silver medalist as this -900 line represents his longest odds since he won the WBO featherweight title against Joet Gonzalez four fights ago in 2019. Although his odds were slightly longer in his first title fight, it was only barely as he walked to the ring as the -800 chalk, winning a unanimous decision.
We do hope for a little bit more spirit as “Sugar” Stevenson looks to unify his interim strap. When he won that belt over Jeremiah Nakathila, there was not a lot of action as the 24-year-old cruised to victory.
That bout wasn’t exactly anything new for Shakur, who has been compared to Floyd Mayweather because of his elite defensive skills and willingness to have a fight go the distance rather than chasing a knockout. In fact, only half of his 16 pro wins have come by knockout.
Stevenson has barely lost a round on his rise up the ranks and does a tremendous job limiting damage to just one punch at a time as he either slips out of danger or ties his foes up. He’s gotten better offensively, working behind the jab and going to the body early and often.
As mentioned, Stevenson has a knack for being extremely cautious, even throwing a punch and then retreating immediately so he doesn’t get hit back. Semper Fi must be willing to absorb the shot and continue marching forward closing the distance and forcing a dogfight where there may be lapses in that defensive shield.
One thing that should fall in favor of Herring is that if he lands once, there’s a second shot coming quickly. Now, whether he will be able to land that first shot is the big question, but he very frequently will throw combinations, which will be critical especially if he can find ways to corner Stevenson.
Overall, if Herring has any shot, he needs to consistently back Stevenson up, see if he can narrow his stance and create mistakes in his footwork and work behind the jab. All of those points are difficult tasks with the speed of Sugar and we may see a little more output than his last outing, which could change the game plan in a hurry.
MVPBOXING.COM Comment Policy
"Hey, why isn't my comment displaying?!"
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.