Boxing Betting Free Picks
WBA Jr. Welterweight Title - Amir Khan vs. Dmitriy Salita
by Corey E
Khan vs. Salita: Long Trip for the Longshot
WBA Jr. Welterweight Title
December 5 - Newcastle, UK
BetUS Boxing Betting Odds:
Amir Khan -800
Dmitriy Salita +500
For betting purposes, let's take a look at the contestants:
KHAN (19-1, 15 KO's), the -800 favorite in the BetUS boxing betting odds, has been looked upon as one of the golden boys in British boxing, and that is partially based on his showing at the 2004 Olympics, where he went to the finals in the 132-pound division before losing to Mario Kindelan of Cuba, settling a silver medal, which is not so bad for those representing the UK. Khan was thought to be a future champion, and he turned pro in July of 2005 with a one-round TKO over David Bailey.
Because of TV agreements, he had to go into the ring with some reasonable respectable trialhorses early on, but he was still being carefully steered. In July of 2007 he stopped Willie Limond in eight rounds to capture the Commonwealth lightweight crown. he defended that title a number of times, including a first-round stoppage of Graham Earl in December 2007 and a fifth-round TKO over Michael Gomez last June. Things were moving pretty quickly for Khan, who had won his first 18 fights as a pro.
Then came a tough road block; in September of last year he was knocked out in one round by Breidis Prescott, an undefeated puncher from Colombia who kind of upset the party (and who is on the undercard here, by the way, as promoters pursue a rematch angle).
Handlers brought Amir Khan back carefully with a second-round TKO of Oisin Fagan, then a fifth-round technical decision over former star Marco Antonio Barrera in March. Barrera looked washed up and hasn't fought since.
That win cleared the way for Khan to fight Andriy Kotelnik for the WBA title at 140 pounds, and he had a sensational outing, winning the fight by twelve points on one scorecard and seven points on the other two.
to start winning money today on Khan -800 vs Salita!
SALITA (30-0-1, 16 KO's), the +500 underdog at BetUS, would be the second Russian-born Jew in the last month if he were to emerge with a win over Amir Khan (joining Yuri Foreman, who beat Daniel Santos). A native of Ukraine, he moved with his family to New York shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union.
He won the 2001 New York Golden Gloves and turned pro in June of that year with a first-round TKO over Roberto Delgado.
During his first two and a half years as a pro, he fought 16 times. He went down in the first round against Robert Frankel in December 2005 before recovering to win a ten-round decision; the first time he has gone that distance.
In his next bout he was floored twice in the first round and was held to a draw by journeyman Ramon Montano. He's won six straight since then, with the last being a ten-round decision over Raul Munoz.
Khan has quite a bit of ability and quite a bit of speed, and I think you have to admire the way he has recovered from his knockout loss. He's got all the advantages of a hometown crowd, hometown press and hometown influence over judges, which he's had his whole career and is hard for anyone to overcome. Even if these guys were on even terms talent-wise, Khan starts with a big edge.
Well, they're not on even terms talent-wise.
I have seen Salita fight, and there is nothing he's got that ever been very impressive. Obviously the people around him know this as well, otherwise you would have seen him against a presentable roster of opponents. With reference to the level of opposition, I don't know that there has been anyone fighting for a title who has less credentials, but Salita would be on the short list.
Salita is ranked #1 by the WBA, but no one on his list would qualify as a real contender. In fact, most of them are rather mediocre opponent-types, many of whom were brought in from the Midwest "loser" circuit, first by Top Rank and then by DiBella Entertainment.
One of those opponents, Ramon Montano, has exactly TWO knockouts in 27 pro bouts, yet he knocked Salita down twice in their fight. By the way, both of the aforementioned promoters, after a contractual association, chose not to go forward with him.
In other words, they chose not to go forward with a white Jewish kid who has a pretty good story. That should tell you something, even if you haven't seen the guy fight.
There has been much artificial fodder made of this fight which matches a Muslim against a Jew, but the non-competitiveness of this thing takes so much lustre off it.
This would be a hard enough assignment for a good fighter, but for someone who might otherwise be simply a high-level club-fighter if he were not so well-protected, it's damn near impossible.
I find no value whatsoever in the underdog price of +500 on Salita. To me, there is only one way to go, and that is to lay the 8/1 price on a guy who will probably have to be knocked out cold to lose in this environment. That's Amir Khan, the favorite in the BetUS boxing betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: KHAN TO WIN (-800) ****
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
