Bivol vs Ramirez | The Best Boxing Picks, Predictions & Odds

TJ Reeves:

Sometimes you just take the L and move on or go to the next round, get in between rounds, regroup, et cetera. We have a lot to cover on the show. First of all, thank you for finding us. However you did so through a social media link. Make sure that you’re hitting that like button, hitting the bell so you know about this show. Subscribe to it. We’re here Friday’s live, one Eastern Time, getting you ready for the weekend with all the action, whether it’s not just in the United States but all over the world. If it’s a significant fight, we’ll be giving you some gambling advice more than likely on this program. Again, you can help us out by sharing this show out, by subscribing. Again, the subscribers are growing and growing. We want that to continue. Keep it up, keep doing what you’re doing and thank you for finding us here today.

Even if you found us after the fact, keep in mind we do live Q and A, and Rayfield loves the live Q and A on a Friday, so be with us live at one Eastern time. If you’re seeing this later in the weekend, one Eastern time, we’re here on the program. Let’s take a look at our records and again, the records will reflect that we’re still making you money. By the way, on the BetUS boxing show, Rayfield still floating right around 20 above 500. I’m right around nine above 500 mark. We’ve made you money since the show began back in May. We’re going to aim to do that and in fact, we’ve got three more fights to talk about. Make picks on and try to make you a little money on here today because we not only focus on who’s going to win the fight, but we delve as well into how they’re going to win and maybe even when, W-H-E-N, when the fight is going to end with an over/under. We do that with all of those.

Now, let’s say we get things underway with a WBA World Light heavyweight title fight. This one in the Middle East, this one in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, that’s where they’re holding it with Russian, Dimitrii Bivol, the Unbeaten champion. When last we saw him, Dan Rayfield, he knocked off some guy named Canelo Alvarez in May. This is his next fight Since then, a title defense at 175 against a Mexican in Gilberto Zurdo Ramirez, who’s a former world champion himself and obviously, has shown some knockout power since moving up to light heavyweight. We see the lines, we see the over/under at 12 and a half. Dan, what do we think about what is a very intriguing light heavyweight showdown coming Saturday?

Dan Rayfield:

Well, I think, and I’ve said this before, of the fights that were on the calendar for the fourth quarter of this year, this was probably my favorite fight on the group of fights, maybe other than the chocolate Tito Gonzalez, Juan Francisco Estrada trilogy fight, but this is a high class a plus level fight. This is if you take a look at the light heavyweight division, you have Arthur Beterbiev as the three belt undefeated champion has won all of his fights by knockouts. Put him to the side for a second. These are the next best two guys in the weight class and there are some that may argue that Bivol should be ranked number one. Be that as it may, these are two of the best three fighters in the division. Zurdo Ramirez is the mandatory challenger, so Bivol had no choice but to fight him or lose that belt, but he earned that position.

A lot of times in boxing, and you know this TJ, guys ascend to a mandatory position. There may not be the best challenger out there, there’s politics involved, that sort of thing. In case in the case of Zurdo Ramirez, he’s earned this shot. As you mentioned, former champion in the super middleweight division. He’s now been on a streak of knockouts since he’s moved up to light heavyweight and he’s not just knocking out complete nobodies, he’s knocked out some solid opponents as he’s been trying to get this fight. He begged for this fight. He tried to do everything in their power to not fight this fight on the Bivol side. They look to make other fights, but the combination of the pressure applied by Team Ramirez and his promoter, Oscar De La Hoya from Golden Boy and with the help from the WBA, which is the sanctioning body that has overseeing the fight, they ordered the fight and they really had no choice.

Bivol had to take this fight and it was sort of, we would understand if Canelo Alvarez had opted to seek the rematch against him, that would be a bigger fight of course, and I don’t think there would be too much of an issue, but once Canelo elected to not take that rematch immediately it became very clear that Zurdo should be the next in line and this fight is on it’s a great matchup. Look, these guys are 64 and O combined and they’re 64 and O combined, and between the two of them they have beaten a lot of good fighters. This is the top level fight and I’m thrilled that it’s happening and as I said, it’s probably the best fight or one of the top one or two best fights that was on the calendar for the fourth quarter.

TJ Reeves:

All right, so before we go on the record, we saw a couple different people saying they like Zurdo maybe in the upset. That’s some of the topic right now in the live chat. Get in there in the live chat. How about this question right here off the BFW Twitter handle and YouTube handle, “Do you think there may be some fireworks at the beginning of this one? You haven’t gone on the record yet with a pick, or might these guys feel each other out a little bit in this showdown at 175?

Dan Rayfield:

Well, I mean these are seasoned veteran professionals. Dimitrii Bivol is a very skillful fighter, a good technical fighter, not the kind of guy that just goes all out any point in the fight. He’s a very measured fighter. He can get you out of there and if you give him an opening for sure, but he’s not ever been the kind of fighter that just goes 100 miles an hour and doesn’t try to make it the first round of Haggler and Hearns. While Ramirez has sometimes gone after guys, I think he knows that he’s in with a different level of fighter compared … I mean, again, he’s fought good fighters, but Bivol’s on another level, so I think they’ll definitely be somewhat cautious in the early going I would think, given that they both know what’s at stake and I think they respect the abilities and the talents of the other guys.

If this fight’s going to turn into something exciting, I think it’s going to be … What I find to be one of the best parts of boxing is y’all like to see guys go out there and again, Hagger/Hearns and just go from the jump and just go to just tear each other up. I also like to see a fight where you’re seeing quality and watch the slow build. Starts out, they get into it and then it slowly builds into a bonfire. I don’t know if this is going to reach bonfire level, I just know that I like seeing the best against the best and this is the best against the best.

TJ Reeves:

Yeah, there is no doubt that this is the mandatory challenger here and there’s got a lot of back and forth about whether or not Zurdo has a great chance to pull the upset. Of course, Bivol may be in position the Russian to fight Canelo Alvarez again, as you alluded to. Let’s just see how this all lays out coming up here for this battle. Let’s go on the record. What do we think here? What do we think happens and maybe even get a little more specific on when it might happen. Dan, you go on the record first.

Dan Rayfield:

Sure. I mean I love the fight, as I’ve said. I have massive respect for both guys, but I think that Bivol skill-wise is just a little bit better, maybe a lot better frankly, than what Zurdo brings to the table. Zurdo’s a south paw, that might be slightly problematic for Bivol, but I don’t think enough where it’s going to cause too much trouble. He’s, as I said, a veteran professional, good amateur career, undefeated. Been fighting all over the place, whether it’s in the United States now in the Middle East, not a problem in terms of being on equal footing because one guy is from Mexico, one guy is from Russia.

I like the skills of Bivol better. I think that this is going to be a good fight. I think it will be in spots exciting. I think there might be a good competition at times, but I think when it’s all said and done, Dimitrii Bivol wins this fight by a decision. I see a fight that’s going to probably be somewhere in that eight to four range where Zurdo certainly is there and it’s not like he’s completely overrun, but that, as I’ve said before, TJ, who am I going to quote? The great philosopher, Floyd Mayweather.

Skills pay the bills and Bivol is the more skillful fighter. I think he also has a good chin, and I think that’s the reason why I’m picking Bivol to win this fight by decision.

TJ Reeves:

By the way, did you see one of the peeps saying, “I got $1,000 agreeing with you on Bivol by decision.” We always say gamble responsibly here on the show. I don’t know if you need to be betting that much on the show. Whatever you feel comfortable with, bet within your means. It is interesting. It was a distance fight for him obviously against Canelo. I like the Bivol punching power. I don’t know that Zurdo Ramirez has been in with a guy this big that can punch like this. Yes, he’s knocked out other light heavyweights. There’s not a lot of value on Bivol on the money line and I’m not so much interested on when this fight, W-H-E-N, when it ends. I’m just interested in Bivol getting a knockout and I think he will get a knockout or a stoppage at some point, maybe even late.

You’re going to go on the record decision. I’m going to go on the record a little more value plus 400 on the Bivol KO. I mean, so that tells you BetUS, what that line is trying to entice you there a little bit. Again, by extension we talk about this all the time if you’re new on the show, if Dan is taking the decision then by obvious connection, he’s taking the over as well. Might as well load up on the over, even though the over is minus 450 here for the 10 and a half rounds, there’s a couple people asking about the draw prop and they really like the possibility of the draw. The draw is plus 1600 right now on the BetUS line if this thing ends up six six over 12 rounds, 114, 114 or whatever or however you get to the math on the draw. Listen, I’m not saying put a lot on the draw, but what’s your thought, Dan, on that?

Dan Rayfield:

Listen, the draw props are always enticing and because they’re not that common and there have been a few times, I can’t think of one off the top of head, but I know there’s been a couple of times I’d said one on the show a few weeks ago, I forget what fight we were talking about where while I made a pick of one or the other guy in the match, I believe I said something to the effect of if there’s ever going to be the kind of fight that feels like draw-ish, this could be that fight.

TJ Reeves:

I’ll tell you what it was. You were on the money with the Padraza/Commey fight this summer.

Dan Rayfield:

That’s correct.

TJ Reeves:

You said on the record this is a close decision and do not be surprised if it ends up a 10 round draw, so you were [inaudible 00:10:29].

Dan Rayfield:

All that said, I mean, I don’t think except in … And I’ve been making picks on fights for over 20 years and doing pretty much all the big fights that you can think of in that entirety of the time I’ve done it, man, I might have picked a draw like twice, maybe once. I mean, just not a common thing, but again, if you’re wagering, it’s one thing to write your pick because it’s going in the newspaper or it’s going on a website or something like that. If you’re actually putting money down and you get 16, what’d you say plus 1600 on a draw?

TJ Reeves:

Yes.

Dan Rayfield:

You’re betting other fights and it’s in your portfolio of bets, would I throw 25 bucks down or whatever or 50 bucks down on a draw just for fun in the scheme of the rest of my wagering? On a fight like this, not the craziest thing I ever heard of. It’s enticing, and by the way …

TJ Reeves:

As somebody else put it, put pizza money on it.

Dan Rayfield:

… [inaudible 00:11:19].

TJ Reeves:

Yeah, put some pizza money on it and then you can maybe go buy a pizza franchise if it comes through. Bear in mind here that these are very experienced fighters. Questionable things can happen with cards. It’s over in the Middle East. We should point out just one more time before we move off this fight, both of these guys, Bivol, the Russian usually trains in the United States. He went there way early at least a month. Zurdo Ramirez obviously in Mexico and in Southern California training. He went there a month early at the beginning of October or late September. These guys have been there for about a month, so getting acclimated and all that, that’s not that big a deal, right Dan?

Dan Rayfield:

No, not at all. I mean, they’re used to the time zone, they’re used to the climate, all that kind of business. This fight will take place in the evening time. It’s not like they’re fighting at some obscure time that their bodies wouldn’t be adjusted to. For us here in the United States, the zone of the, I believe it starts at two or 2:30 in the afternoon Eastern time, but for them over in the UAE in Abu Dhabi, as you said, they have been there for quite a while. There’s no excuses in terms of being adjusted. This is not Lennox Lewis going to South Africa on a week’s notice and fighting at 6,000 feet altitude against Hasim Rahman being upset. These guys have been there preparing.

By the way, these two guys are total pros. These are not fighters that you ever hear about not coming and making them wait or not being prepared for the fight or being disrespectful towards their opponents. These guys are true professionals. They take it seriously. They know what’s at stake. I believe they respect each other. These are not guys that trash talk to the opponent. There might be in this particular portion not as much heat as there might be in terms of other ones where guys are going back and forth, but don’t make a mistake, this is a good matchup.

TJ Reeves:

All right, we’re anxious to see what happens, Dan and I both agreeing on who will win Bivol. The how Bivol wins is where we disagree and I’m sure I’ll get a text at some point, Saturday evening, “Told you,” two words from Rayfield and I’ll know what that means.

Dan Rayfield:

TJ, I respect the picks, I just don’t see what’s in the Bivol arsenal that he’s scoring big knockouts against top quality opponents. He’s a great boxer, but he’s never been the big knockout guy. Zurdo Ramirez has never shown real issues in terms of the shin and the south paw stance and both the experience of, so listen, knockouts happen, anything can go down in a boxing match when they ring the bell. My perspective was that if you’re going to pick an outcome, it lend itself more to … Put it like this, it lend itself more to either Bivol by decision and I would think that there’d be a better chance for Zurdo to get the knockout than there would be for Bivol to get the knockout.

TJ Reeves:

Interesting. He’s shown punching power light heavyweight. He has scored three knockouts at light heavyweight already since moving up.

Dan Rayfield:

Here’s an example, by the way-

TJ Reeves:

Will it translate?

Dan Rayfield:

Yeah, I mean, he absolutely obliterated Sullivan Barrera in four rounds and Sullivan Barrera has been a good contender for a long time. He’s fought a lot of top guys, but he also challenged Bivol for the title a few years ago and he went into the 12th round with Bivol. When you see Zurdo just run him over and you see, not that Bivol struggled with him, he won the fight handily, but it took him 11 rounds to get him out of there. Those are all things that you put into the pot when you mix up the stew when deciding on the pick. I’m not saying it’s the end all, be all of what makes the decision for you, but it’s one of the pieces of data that you can use as you make the pick. If he gets the knockout, good on you. I like my chances.

TJ Reeves:

All right, again, we say thank you to the audience which is growing. Once again, Dan, they’re finding us here as part of the BetUS Boxing Show on Friday. Hit that like button, make sure that you hit the bell, make sure you’re subscribing. Share us out. More and more of you are finding it, we’re adding to the subscriber base, et cetera. We love that here. For everybody at BetUS, they’re cheering you on. There’s a lot of back and forth going on in the live chat about the odds on this and some of the other fights.

Let’s move on, shall we, on this same card, the match room boxing card that is in Abu Dhabi. This is a women’s world title fight at 140 pounds, Chantel Cameron of England will take on Jessica McCaskill of the United States. Now, McCaskill may be a familiar name and will be to our hardcore fans because she’s the world welterweight champion moving down in a weight class to junior welterweight. Cameron has two of the titles at 140. We see the odds, interesting that it’s a fairly even proposition at decision. Large odds for knockouts, not a lot of knockouts in women’s boxing. The over/under his eight and a half. Interesting, Dan Rayfield, when we were going over the boxing odds, you said to me interesting that McCaskill is the underdog, here kind of in the neutral fight in the Middle East. Pick it up from there. What are your thoughts?

Dan Rayfield:

I was surprised by that because as you said, McCaskill, she is the undisputed women’s welterweight champion. She has been a champion at Junior Welterweight. She then moved up and she took on Cecilia Braekhus who at that time when they met for the first time, was universally regarded as the number one women’s fighter in the world pound for pound. She had had a long decorated career. She had beaten everybody. She’d been champion for many, many years, had made something like 20 plus defenses and hadn’t shown her age at that point. Even though the first fight that had McCaskill, she eeked out a very close decision to become undisputed. They did an immediate rematch and in the rematch, McCaskill won more handily and now she’s going back to the 140 pound weight class to challenge Cameron. Now Cameron, she’s undefeated, she’s 16 and 0 and she’s putting together like an okay resume and she’s winning her fights.

I just saw the odds in that and I’m like, well McCaskill’s got the experience of fighting the heavier women, even though she has a couple losses. They were way at the beginning of her career. Now for example, so she’s like 12 and two, she lost to Katie Taylor who was one of the top two or three women in boxing. Just came off of a titled defense of her undisputed lightweight championship last week. She’s a phenomenal fighter and McCaskill lost to her, but again very early. So if there’s ever such thing as a forgivable loss, that’s certainly falls into that category. I don’t even hold that against her. That was a good learning experience for her.

Now, that she’s coming down to fight Cameron again undefeated, but Cameron, her resume compared to McCaskill’s is not even close in my opinion. Now that doesn’t mean that she’s not good and can’t beat her, but based on what she has done and the types of opponents she has faced and how she’s beating them, and then you do the same thing and you look at McCaskill’s record and what she’s been doing, then unless there’s some kind of behind the scenes things that we’re not aware of, an injury or some bad thing happening in the training camp or whatever, all things being equal, I just feel like McCaskill is the superior fighter basically in every which way you look at it.

Whether it’s size, experience, level of opposition, being involved in a fight at this level in terms of the magnitude, in terms of your mentality and your nerves and that sort of stuff. You put that all together and I just was surprised when you read to me the number that Cameron was the favorite in this fight.

TJ Reeves:

It is interesting. We’ve seen a couple of comments. You could put Jeff’s comment back up there that he likes not only McCaskill but he likes the KO. Again, you get a much bigger payout if it is a knockout and she does not have a lot of knockouts.

Dan Rayfield:

No, I was going to say she’s …

TJ Reeves:

Although, she does have wins.

Dan Rayfield:

… She’s 12 and two, but I think she’s only got five knockouts. Never been a big puncher, but she’s athletic and she throws a lot of punches and she makes good fights for the entertainment value of putting the wager part of it aside. She does make good fights, and the one thing that has not been her calling card is the punching power. I don’t seen any evidence that Cameron can’t take a punch. You never know. I mean, again, McCaskill’s been taking on bigger women over the last bit in this particular case she’s moving down in weight, so that sometimes is a factor and sometimes people look and they scratch her while she’s moving down in weight. We’ve talked about this on the podcast that we do. In men’s boxing, it’s the usual course of action is guys win titles or don’t win titles, but whatever.

As they get older or they’re looking for bigger paydays or easier time making weight, oftentimes, it’s far more rare that a boxer at the top level will move down and weight. In women’s boxing, it’s commonplace at this point for women to move down. Jessica McCaskill is dropping from 147 down to 140. She is doing what many of the other top women out there have done. Take for example Claressa Shields, who was now the undisputed middleweight women’s world champion. When she started her professional career, she was a super middleweight. She unified two titles in that weight division. She then moved down to 160, she became the undisputed champion, then she went all the way down to 154 pounds became undisputed. Then because of the big fight she had with Savannah Marshall was at 160, she went back up and one other that’s there and became undisputed again, so she’s done that. Amanda Serrano we’ve talked about on the show before. She’s a woman who’s won world titles in seven different weight classes and she’s done it from Banham weight all the way up I think to like 140 pounds. She’s been all over the scale up and down and now in this case with McCaskill. It’s much more commonplace for these ladies to drop the weight than it is compared to what happens in men’s boxing.

TJ Reeves:

Good on all of that. Let’s go on the record and you and I in agreement here, we like the American, Jessica McCaskill, to get the win and we both like it by decision. Again, you’re getting good value on that because McCaskill is considered the underdog as much as we’ve talked about her and Dan, I agree with the point, Cameron is really stepping up in competition. McCaskill trains very hard. They both do obviously, and I think she’s got a great chance to win this. By again, association, we’re both going to take the over here, double it up if you can double it up. Again, the BetUS line like many of these does not have a lot of value in the over, but you might as well take the over if you’re taking the decision and get a little bit more money on that for this women’s junior welter weight fight. Anything else?

Dan Rayfield:

Yeah, I was just going to say the one thing that maybe when they looked at Cameron being favored in the fight, she’s a bit younger than McCaskill. McCaskill’s 38 years old, but she’s not an old 38 in boxing stance because she’s only got the 14 fights and it’s not like she had hundreds of amateur fights. She’s 38, but I haven’t really seen any evidence that she’s slowing down even if she hasn’t been the most active in the last couple of years and Cameron’s 31 years old. There is that age gap, but I don’t put a huge amount of stock in that unless you’ve seen some type of degradation in whatever fighter’s abilities or skills. That might be … I’m trying to think what was the reason why they decided to make Cameron the favorite? I can’t sit here and tell you this is one of those fights where I like to claim free money but …

TJ Reeves:

It’s close.

Dan Rayfield:

… I just think the odds are wrong on this fight.

TJ Reeves:

There’s another good point made here before we move on to our final fight off the big fight weekend handle here again, this would be great to know or try to remember or contemplate men’s or women’s, when is the last time an undisputed champion was an underdog in any world title fight? I’m talking about men’s or women’s. Think about it now, from a Canelo Alvarez being undisputed on and on down the list, any of the heavyweight champions like Lennox Lewis or Mike Tyson, when would they have ever been an underdog in one of these? You’d have to think and you’d have to look and I realize it’s women’s boxing, not the biggest of names. She is moving down in weight, but she’s an undisputed champion at 147 and she’s the underdog.

Dan Rayfield:

It’s certainly unusual, at least as I think to the fighters who have been undisputed. Let’s talk about in the four belt era where there hasn’t been that many, at least in terms of the men’s side, you have fighters like Oleksandr Usyk at cruiser weight, he defended it was not the underdog against Bellew. Josh Taylor defended the undisputed junior welter weight title against Jack Catterall. He was not the underdog. Terrence Crawford became undisputed at junior welter, but never once he unified the four belts, he never defended them. He moved up to welter weight. That’s a wash there. You mentioned Canelo Alvarez, when he went up to light heavyweight, he lost a Bivol, but he was not obviously the … He was the favorite of that fight [inaudible 00:23:02]-

TJ Reeves:

He was the favorite, right.

Dan Rayfield:

He was not defending the undisputed title. Now, he did defend the undisputed super middle weight title back in September against Triple G in their third fight, but again, he was the favorite in the fight and he won. As I run through my mind, it’s not common. Even if you go back to the beginning of the four belt era, when guys were able to finally become an undisputed champion, Jermaine Taylor did it by beating Bernard Hopkins. I’m trying to remember, that might be the, I guess, that might be the one where Hopkins in their first fight was defending the undisputed title and probably was the favorite. Well, I guess he was the favorite and Taylor pulled the upside and beat him for that title. Yeah, it’s not common if ever.

TJ Reeves:

All right, getting good value is what we’re saying on the BetUS Show, you’re getting good value on Jessica McCaskill. Rayfield and I say decision for her and a victory. It’s again the co-feature fight just before Bivol and Zurdo fight in the main event on the matching boxing show, Saturday afternoon US time. Let’s move on to one final fight that we’re going to discuss. We’re going to get to your Q and A coming up. That bout is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Cuban-born David Morrell in action and I’m going to have fun with the name with a Kazakh opponent, Aidos Yerbossynuly. How’d I do, Rayfield? Give me like nine on a scale of 10 on that [inaudible 00:24:19].

Dan Rayfield:

[inaudible 00:24:19].

TJ Reeves:

Yerbossynuly. Okay, Morrell is heavily favored as you see, especially by knockout. He’s got a good value there and he’s got a good value as well by decision, our over/under is 10 and a half. Okay Dan, tell us a little bit more about David Morrell, who’s a former Cuban Olympic fighter who’s now made his home in the great white north in Minnesota and he is headlining on the showtime boxing, premiere boxing champions, super middleweight main event here.

Dan Rayfield:

Well, I don’t believe Morrell was an Olympian but he was definitely a standout in the Cuban amateur system before he came to the United States and he relocated to Minneapolis. Not exactly what you would think of as the haven for folks that come to the United States from Cuba. Typically, a lot of them are in south Florida, that sort of thing. Not exactly the conducive weather compared to Cuba living in Minnesota. Nonetheless, he’s moved to Minnesota, he’s become part of the community. He’s become a very popular figure. He has fought a number of times at the venue where they’re having the fight on Saturday called the Armory in downtown Minneapolis, and he’s become a bonafide ticket seller and an attraction and they sell those fights out. As I said to you the other day, my bucket list, I’ve done a lot of things in boxing, but I think I have to go into a fight at the Armory on my list of things to do because from folks I know that go, it’s always a great crowd and an exciting atmosphere and that’s whether Morrell’s in the show or not.

He’s definitely going to have a distinct hometown advantage adopted or otherwise in this fight. His opponent coming from Kazakhstan who has trained in Las Vegas under the guidance of Kay Karoma, one of the best young trainers in boxing, most folks if they know him, know him as the head trainer for Shakur Stevenson. He’s also worked with other fighters. This is a mandatory fight of the secondary title that David Morrell has. Keep in mind that the undisputed champion at super middle weight is in fact Canelo Alvarez. From the WBA’s point of view, David Morrell sits there as the mandatory challenger for Canelo, but that fight is not happening at this moment in time. You have the young guy Morrell with a seven and 0 record who was fighting in WBA interim title fights and second tier title fights really early in his career in his third fight I guess.

Now, he’s starting to develop but he’s only 24 years old as a professional, but he’s really good and that’s the reason why they’re able to move him quite quickly. His opponent, not a lot of known about him, but if you look down his record and you take a look at the types of guys he’s fought, one thing that does stand out is there’s a common opponent between Morrell and Yerbossynuly and the name of that opponent is a guy named Lennox Allen. Back a few years ago, David Morrell went the distance with Lennox Allen And Lennox Allen is like a solid, I’ll call him a fringe contender type. I don’t think he’s going to be champion but he’s a solid guy and he’ll give a good effort and he’ll make guys work for the wind usually. David Morrell just blitzed him. It was a pretty one-sided kind of fight.

I take that back in terms of the Yerbossynuly fight, David Morrell actually went 12 round distance with him. My mistake. It was Yerbossynuly that put him out of there at about four rounds. That was the eliminator fight to get this world title opportunity. That’s something that you can factor in. It doesn’t always work out that that way, that just because you beat one guy into a fashion and the other guy was not as successful in terms of getting the win that that’s going to somehow translate to the fight. Because as they say, styles make fights. He’s coming over here, he’s certainly the big underdog for a reason. I mean, David Morrell is just loaded with skills. He’s got power, he’s got speed, he’s got youth and he’s got the hometown backing him and sometimes that makes a difference, sometimes it doesn’t.

I feel like he’s the type of fighter that has responded to that lift from the crowd. Yerbossynuly, based on his comments, I was watching some of their pre-fight press conference yesterday, this dude’s not scared, he’s not worried about being there. He’s talking a big game and he seems very poised and confident. Now I don’t understand Kazakh so when they translate it, I’ll have to just take the translator’s word for it, but it may be-

TJ Reeves:

You’re fluent in a lot of things including deciphering boxing BS, but you’re not fluent in Kazakh. I appreciate that. Go ahead.

Dan Rayfield:

Maybe it’s bravado, maybe it’s not. Whatever it is, you then look in who’s the more skillful fighter in your estimation. Got to go with Morrell, right?

TJ Reeves:

I think he’s the bigger puncher. I mean, his last four fights have all ended in four rounds or less. Three of them at this venue, the Armory, they love him there. He will have some home away from home backing. Yerbossynuly, a long way from home. Shall we lock it in? Let’s do it officially. What do we like here?

Dan Rayfield:

The only guy that went the 12 round distance or the distance of any level of fight was Lennox Allen. That just happens to be the guy that Yerbossynuly knocked out but he’s knocked everybody else out, but take that for whatever it’s worth.

TJ Reeves:

All right, let’s go on the record. We both are in agreement here. We both like the Morrell KO and we’re laying 150 to get it. Now Dan, also interesting likes the under here on the play and by the way there’s fresh BX’s in the live chat saying hey the line has moved on the BetUS line for the over/under. You guys just have to understand this, as you see Dan taking the under here, the line moved from eight and a half up to nine and a half since the show or right before the show began. We locked everything in with our graphics, et cetera.

Dan Rayfield:

I’m going to correct one thing by the way, Yerbossynuly, I said he knocked out Morrell, I mean, knocked out Lennox Allen in four rounds. He actually went 10 rounds but he still got the stoppage, [inaudible 00:29:43].

TJ Reeves:

Still got the stoppage in that. Again, and you can put the fresh BX comment up there if you guys want there, at BetUS Antonio and Company where he’s talking about how the line is moved on the BetUS line because this is good. There’s another comment that he was making too about the over/under as well. How y’all got it at 10 and a half. We actually had it at eight and a half, I believe. The line has moved a couple of times. There must be some activity on this fight and whether Morrell’s going to get his knockout.

Dan Rayfield:

I was taking the under at eight and a half, so I’m happy to take the under at nine and a half because I had [inaudible 00:30:13] to play with, right?

TJ Reeves:

Well sure, but we’re going to lock you in at eight and a half because I don’t want another text about how right you are about everything, if it is-

Dan Rayfield:

I don’t get the pick at nine and a half, so if it goes nine and nine I don’t get the win?

TJ Reeves:

Well, you want to cover both sides. What are you running for political office Tuesday like everybody else? The polls?

Dan Rayfield:

The BetUS line is now nine and a half. I took the under.

TJ Reeves:

That’s correct, but you still love the under, you still love the Morrell KO. [inaudible 00:30:35].

Dan Rayfield:

Wherever I understand that. I’m just saying, I’m talking about our records when we show the best next week, if it goes nine, do I get the credit for the win?

TJ Reeves:

We will do that for you, you being who you are. If you get that Morrell KO sometime in the [inaudible 00:30:46].

Dan Rayfield:

[inaudible 00:30:46]. I’m making the pick right now, I’m taking the under.

TJ Reeves:

Bear in mind, this is a good learning tool here on what we do. You may be watching us on Friday and the line moves up or the line moves down on an over/under a knockout prop, et cetera because money is coming in, they’re trying to entice people. For all we know Dan Rayfield back to the previous fight, Jessica McCaskill may be even or may be favored by the time you get to tomorrow in the fight in Abu Dhabi.

Dan Rayfield:

It usually doesn’t change during the course of our show.

TJ Reeves:

Not during the course of the show, no, but right as the show was coming on apparently at noon-

Dan Rayfield:

I feel like I should get nine and a half if I’m taking the under.

TJ Reeves:

All right, we’ll get that on. We’ll get that [inaudible 00:31:22].

Dan Rayfield:

I can’t remember what you took but whatever.

TJ Reeves:

I did not … So I’m going to say this, I did not mess with the when, the W-H-E-N, I am only messing with the Morrell KO [inaudible 00:31:31].

Dan Rayfield:

Our people behind the scenes, Antonio and our people that help take care of our records. Let’s make sure that’s reflected.

TJ Reeves:

They’re on it. They’re on it right now. It’s probably going to be reflected in the best bets in a few minutes. We have that on the over/under because ask and you shall receive, mighty one, [inaudible 00:31:46].

Dan Rayfield:

The bottom line here is though, we both agree that that Morrell, given all the factors that we were just discussing, is going to win this fight by a knockout. Obviously, if you’re betting the over/under, that’s important of when you’re going to pick over or under, but the end result is the same. We’re both saying it’s going to be a knockout somewhere under, I thought originally eight and a half now nine and a half, but the point is that’s the general thought that we have about [inaudible 00:32:11].

TJ Reeves:

We both agree. I’m not going for the when it ends, I just like the how. I like the knockout. You’re going to go for the under on when it ends and we’ll see if that is the case for David Morrell, who again will be in the mix at 168 pounds. I know Caleb Plant, David Benavidez are both confirming that they’re going to fight each other. Morrell wants in that mix too. Canelo Alvarez has all the belts. Morrell can really help himself Saturday night with an impressive win shooting towards the first part of 2023, summer of 2023 and getting a more significant fight if he is able to do it.

All right, get those questions and answers ready. Dan and I are going to hang out here for a few more minutes on this edition of the BetUS Boxing Show. If you have some of those, send those along just one more time. How did Morrell if you know, settle on Minneapolis? Is it because the trainer was there and that was where he had to go to train in the gym and that’s what he settled in on? Because again, it’s not like LA or New York or even Texas if you’re settling somewhere else.

Dan Rayfield:

I don’t know off the top of my head. I want to say it was something like there was like a friend of a friend situation and went there and liked it and basically decided to stay and it was nothing like-

TJ Reeves:

He lives there. He lives there now, in the wintertime.

Dan Rayfield:

No, he’s part of the community. That’s his home and that’s where he is been fighting. Most of his fights have been over the last couple of years taking place in that same venue and he loves it and the community has gravitated towards him, no doubt about it. He’s become, I can’t say he’s a fran- … He’s not the Twins or the Vikings, but in [inaudible 00:33:46] there hasn’t … Look, I mean I’ve been doing this a long time, there hasn’t been, I can’t think of a big name fighter from Minnesota in my time. You got to go back-

TJ Reeves:

I’m going to hit you with a name, you love nostalgia.

Dan Rayfield:

Scott LeDoux?

TJ Reeves:

Scott LeDoux. I was going Scott LeDoux before you [inaudible 00:33:59].

Dan Rayfield:

That’s ’cause he’s the only one.

TJ Reeves:

I was going to say I can’t think of another Minnesota except it was Rob Brant, the recent middleweight champ. Was he Minnesota? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know. I think he fought in the Armory in Minnesota but may not have been Minnesota. Other than Scott LeDoux, it’s a great point. Scott LeDoux fought Larry Holmes for the title. Did he fight somebody else? Did he fight Ali for the title? He might have.

Dan Rayfield:

Not for the title, but Scott LeDoux fought everybody in the seventies.

TJ Reeves:

How about that. Scott, you and I come up with Scott LeDoux on the BetUS Boxing Show. All right, let’s get to some questions and answers. If you have some of these-

Dan Rayfield:

[inaudible 00:34:30] can guess our age based on that reference, right?

TJ Reeves:

Right? Well, you would have a pretty good idea. Let’s see, No Love says, “Caleb and David Benavidez is happening.” Those two fighters say it’s happening. It’s not official, official in terms of what network and when will it happen in 2023 we believe probably something like March. Look for March, April, something like that. That’s me saying that. “What do you think about Caleb Plant, David Benavidez where the winner, especially if it’s Benavidez, might come around with a chance at Canelo Alvarez maybe, maybe not? Plant obviously just fought Alvarez a year ago and Alvarez beat him.” Thought real quick, Dan, on that?

Dan Rayfield:

Well first off, your assessment of when being March or April is exactly when I was told it’s likely to take place. I talked to some people that were involved with that fight just this morning and yeah, they’re targeting that timeframe. As you mentioned, there is no set network involvement. PBC which is putting on the fight works with Showtime, they also work with Fox and so it’s not determined which one will handle it, but it will be a pay-per-view unfortunately, which means it’s going to cost extra to watch that fight.

TJ Reeves:

Can we say it here? We said it on the Big Fight Weekend podcast. Go find that where you find podcasts, that’s not a pay-per-view fight. I mean, I’m sorry, $75 even $55, that’s not … Put it on Showtime as a main event. I’m down with that but don’t come crying to Rayfield and me when nobody buys the $75 pay-per-view for Plant and Benavidez, people. That’s all I’m saying. I’m just adding that view.

Dan Rayfield:

Business part of it aside though, it’s an excellent matchup. They’re two of the best super middleweights in the world. Obviously, Canelo rules as the undisputed champion. We’re going to get a look at perhaps the future of the division in terms of David Morrell in the fight on Saturday. These are two guys that have been around for a little bit. Benavidez is still a young fighters in his twenties still. Caleb Plant just barely 30. He did have the loss against Canelo, but he acquitted himself. Well, despite being stopped in that fight, he’s coming off of a victory that took place a couple of weeks ago on the undercard of the Deontay Wilder/Robert Helenius undercard. He fought the former two time title holder, Anthony Dirrell. Terrible fight. Horrible fight, I mean miserable, just awful type of fight.

TJ Reeves:

Sloppy.

Dan Rayfield:

Just terrible, but it was that way for eight plus rounds and then in the ninth round Caleb Plant, not known as the biggest puncher in the world, more of a boxer, but turned out the lights in a knockout of the year contender. Landed a monstrous left hook right on the button and laid out Anthony Dirrell in the middle of the ring. Had a few antics after the knockout pretending to shovel dirt on him, like he was a grave digger. Did not go over very well with the fans and sort of made him into a little bit of a villain character, but you can’t take anything away from the knockout. Benavidez is more of an action fighter, a brawler, really strong, good chin, just never stops with the engine. It shapes up like a good match.

I mean, I’m looking forward to that. I’m not going to make a pick here, says we don’t even know what the date of the fight is yet, but suffice it to say besides Canelo, you’re talking about if you look at that weight class and you think about the top guys, Caleb Plant and David Benavidez are among the top four or five fighters in that weight class and they would be fighting for the interim WBC title that Benavidez has because Canelo was fighting at light heavyweight, so they allowed that fight. The WBC has its annual convention coming up next week, so they’ve been in touch with the folks making the fight. They will officially mandate it at their convention as a mandatory fight, which won’t be a problem because the deal is already made.

TJ Reeves:

Yeah, the guys want to do that. No Love wants to know on that same match room card, “There’s another world title fight that’s Rakhimov against Barrett from Manchester, England here on the same Bivol/Zurdo card.” What are your thoughts, Dan, on that one? Even if we’re not wager on it here?

Dan Rayfield:

Yeah, no, that’s a pretty good fight. So originally it was supposed to be Rakhimov who was the mandatory for the IBF title at 130 was supposed to fight the champion Joe Cordina, who had scored an absolutely sensational knockout against the Japanese fighter Ogawa to win that title, but he had a very serious hand injury and was not able to defend the title and because he was able to challenge for the title in the first place, but he was able to do so based on stipulations that were made by the IBF, which is you have to defend the mandatory within a certain time period against Rakhimov. He didn’t have the ability to use a medical exemption because he already had used it, so the time ran out. He kind of got caught up in a tough political situation.

He got stripped of the title just a few months after he won the title. Rakhimov is getting the mandatory shot. They have Zelfa Barrett who was highly ranked and he’s going to slide in it’s all on the … Zelfa is also with Match Room boxing, which is also who promotes Cordina, so they’re able to get that fight, get him in, it’s on their show and here we go. The one thing to know is whoever is the winner of this fight, when Cordina comes back from his hand surgery and Match Room promoter, Eddie Hearn says he will make the Cordina fight against the winner of this fight. In terms of this particular matchup, listen, it’s a good solid fight. I mean, 130 right now with Cordina sidelined and other guys maybe having moved up, it’s not the deepest weight class at the moment.

There’s a lot of vacancies in terms of the titles. Shakur Stevenson was unified champion. He just left the weight class. You still have Oscar Valdez in the division. He’s getting ready to take on Emmanuel Navarrete who’s moving up from featherweight, so they’re two guys that are in the mix at the top of the of the division. In terms of Rakhimov and Barrett, they have just as good of a chance to make a name for themselves. Also, Rakhimov had a title shot once before against Jojo Diaz. That was a fight where that was maybe a year and a half ago, two years ago. Jojo Diaz did not make the weight for that fight, but the fight happened anyway. His title was stripped from him. Rakhimov had the chance to win the title had he won the fight. If Jojo had won the fight, he could not win the title.

As it turned out, they fought to a draw. The title stayed vacant, so Rakhimov is now getting his second chance. I like Rakhimov in this fight. I think that he’s a stronger, sturdier guy. I think he’s fought better opposition than Zelfa Barrett. Zelfa’s more of a boxer, but I think that the aggression and then the style of fighting that Rakhimov has shown, maybe he wins the fight. Maybe a close decision, but hopefully it’s a good fight. Again, it’s the underdog, it’ll be the fight before the Cameron/McCaskill fight that we covered. It’s the third fight down the show on the Bivol/Ramirez card.

TJ Reeves:

We’re not going on the record, but Rakhimov is a minus 330 right now to win this on the money line, on the BetUS line on a Friday afternoon …

Dan Rayfield:

Sounds about right.

TJ Reeves:

… That may move. Barrett may be a tasty underdog plus 240 in this matchup. Again, kind of a neutral site in the Middle East. We’ll see, [inaudible 00:40:55].

Dan Rayfield:

Listen, when I was speaking Rakhimov, I’m not saying that this is one of those kind of fights where you look at it and you assess both sides and there’s no doubt that both guys have a good chance to win the fight.

TJ Reeves:

Fair enough. All right, you got to be proud of me that in the question and answer, we got a couple of them in before somebody’s asking about Spence and Crawford, the guys that BetUS may have already flashed that up. Brother Malzune or Malzone, if I have that right, says, “When Will Crawford/Spence happen in 2023?” We kind of joked, especially on the Big Fight Weekend podcast, you got kind of like the preliminary fight with the two of them on social media Wednesday night going back up in fourth of each … I felt like I was at a tennis match doing this and doing this and doing this with the tweets. Are we going to get anything besides the tweets? Dan Rayfield for the world welter weight championship?

Dan Rayfield:

If I could see into the future to tell you when that fight would happen, I would be in my office making bets on fights that I could see the future on …

TJ Reeves:

There you go.

Dan Rayfield:

… [inaudible 00:41:51] talking to you. I can’t tell you when. I hope that it happens, obviously. The one thing that everybody’s going to have to realize is that both guys are going to fight before they get to each other, which is sort of disappointing because everything seemed to be cleared for them to fight in their next fight. Crawford was coming off his big win against Sean Porter, who he stopped. He was now a free agent in terms of his promotion, in terms of his broadcast rights. Errol Spence earlier this year had scored a knockout in a sensational performance against Yordenis Ugas to unify three of the titles. Mandatory situations were taken care of, both guys undefeated, all four belts at stake, no political issues that are going to prevent the fight promotionally or in terms of broadcast. They just were not able for different reasons to make a deal, which you can go on-

TJ Reeves:

The reason, the reason.

Dan Rayfield:

There’s other things that go into it, and if you want to hear the Terrence Crawford side of it, he posted a 21 or close to 21 minute video on his Instagram that he goes through his side of the story piece by piece. There’s obviously lots of comments from Errol Spence and they’re back and forth on Twitter. The bottom line is they’re going to have separate fights before they even entertain the notion of facing each other. December 10th at the moment, you have Crawford’s schedule to defend his belt against David Avanesyan in Crawford’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, and Errol Spence, while he does not have a fight set, it’s most likely that we’ll see him in the early part of next year, and most people look at the situation and believe he’ll either be fighting Keith Thurman or he’ll be fighting his mandatory, it was the regular title holder, Eimantas Stanionis. I would say it’s probably looking like Thurman, but we’ll have to wait and see and they have to both win and then hopefully they can come back to the table and make the fight.

TJ Reeves:

Let’s hope so, because there was so much talk about these guys fighting for November the month that we’re in. It’s not happening. It’s not happening anytime soon. Hopefully, you know-

Dan Rayfield:

It’s not happening. It’s not happening.

TJ Reeves:

Yeah, not happening in February.

Dan Rayfield:

That’s just one of Crawford’s big things, by the way. Money, I mean obviously is a key, but he hadn’t fought since the end of last year against Porter. He didn’t want to go the full year without fighting another fight. To me, that didn’t really seem like a big deal if you know you have it locked in and everything is good, not a big deal to wait from December, I mean, sorry, from November to February, I mean, it’s a little bit of a delay, but the November was off the table a few weeks ago anyway, so he just felt like, and it’s his prerogative for him waiting until February was too long of a wait, so he went and made [inaudible 00:44:14].

TJ Reeves:

Can I just tell you, you mentioned earlier in the show that we’re older, we’re not old, but we’re older. I mean, guys like Marvin Hagler, guys like Mike Tyson, guys like Sugar Ray Leonard, they were fighting three or four times a year, every year. I know the money was different, but they had no problem fighting like in December. December and then coming back and fighting in February if they needed to, stay in shape for …

Dan Rayfield:

For Leonard, that was-

TJ Reeves:

… [inaudible 00:44:35] damage, blah, blah, blah.

Dan Rayfield:

For Leonard, that was part of his career when early on then when he had the ice, and the retirement he was fighting.

TJ Reeves:

Understood. I mean, and Marvin Hagler would fight four or five times a year until at the end of his career we would see that in the prime of his career. Not a problem.

Dan Rayfield:

I mean, obviously the financial aspect is different if you’re making the kinds of money that they’re making now, you don’t need to fight that many times, but even again, when Hagler was middleweight champion and fighting on a regular basis, it wasn’t like they were paying him a ham sandwich in a pack of chips. I mean, he was making real money back then. I mean, real money. Listen, these guys today, a lot of them, they’re cut from a different cloth. There’s no James Tony’s around who was fighting every couple of weeks practically, or like you said, early in his career, Mike Tyson.

TJ Reeves:

Well, yeah, but I mean, even if you look in that era, Roy Jones would fight two or three times every year. This once a year stuff, it’s just from all of them. I’m not just singling [inaudible 00:45:28].

Dan Rayfield:

There are so many top guys in 2022 for different reasons, some are injury related, some are their own choice, some are because they just have issues, whether it’s like a budget from Showtime or the Zone or whatever the case may be to pay for the fights, but whatever the reason is, I’ve done this in a column I wrote maybe about 10 days ago or a week ago where I listed there had to be 20 to 25, literally really good top quality fighters will end the 2022 calendar year with either no fights or one fight.

TJ Reeves:

I know. [inaudible 00:46:03].

Dan Rayfield:

Crawford moving from the no fights to the one fight [inaudible 00:46:07].

TJ Reeves:

Right.

Dan Rayfield:

Keith Thurman, who we talked about, one fight. Errol Spence, one fight. It’s just disappointing.

TJ Reeves:

To this point, Tyson Fury, who’s fighting in December, has fought one time. He fought in April.

Dan Rayfield:

Well, he’ll have two fights.

TJ Reeves:

I mean, Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua, one fight.

Dan Rayfield:

One fight.

TJ Reeves:

To your point.

Dan Rayfield:

Yeah. No, I mean at the top level, two fights is acceptable. I don’t love it, but that’s the norm. A Fury fighting in April and then fighting in December, that’s kind of normal. A Canelo fighting in May and fighting in September, but Canelo was like a throwback the previous year where he fought between the end of 2020 and all through 2021, he had four fights in 11 months. When you’re counting down and you’re making that kind of money, obviously he’s generating on pay-per-view. No one’s just giving it to him, but that’s an unbelievably busy schedule.

TJ Reeves:

He kept the interest in him, his brand, who he was fighting by doing that. That’s the whole point. Jermall Charlo, I’ll single him out, he fought in May and became undisputed champion, isn’t going to fight the rest of the year? You’re hurting your own brand doing that.

Dan Rayfield:

By the way, his brother hasn’t fought since the previous year, so between two Charlos, they fought one time. Now, in their case, there’s been some outside the ring issues, there’s been some injury issues. But again, if you have two brothers and they fight once you know your career’s kind of taking a nose dive.

TJ Reeves:

A Charlo fight to be named later. With that, thank you for you for all the questions on the Q and A and the back and forth. Great job today in the live chat. I’ve been watching a lot of that going back and forth. They’re picking a lot of undercard fights and going back and forth, the savages are on each other about who to take with the undercard fights. Let’s review what you and I have on the best bets here coming for these matchups. You and I agree on Dimitrii Bivol to get the win in the WBA World light heavyweight title fight that one in the Middle East coming Saturday afternoon, US times, Saturday night primetime in Europe.

I believe the knockout. Dan believes the decision and also has the over. We also agree, by the way, on Jessica McCaskill to win by decision and we’re taking the over and look at that, we got it fixed because the BetUS line moved while the show was going on. We both like David Morrell in the PBC Showtime card that’s in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Saturday night primetime. We like Morrell by the KO. You’ll take the under and the under is now nine and a half rounds. Let’s see if you get the when, the W-H-E-N.

Dan Rayfield:

I got to give props to our man, Antonio, behind the scenes for getting that graphic station.

TJ Reeves:

All of our people. Great job by all of our people. Fernando, Danny, everybody that’s involved with the show, Ignasio, everybody that’s associated with the show, they were hustling behind this, Allie. Everybody with the show, thank you, because you keep us straight, you keep us going and we love that. Anything else in closing before we’re done on a Friday, the first weekend in November, Dan?

Dan Rayfield:

I’m just looking forward to watching a little afternoon, late afternoon, early evening boxing with the Bivol/Ramirez fight. Take a little break and then come back and get ready for the Showtime fight. Kind of the night cap.

TJ Reeves:

There you go, so we got some good action there. We got some interesting fights also, next weekend to be talking about, make sure that you are here at one Eastern time. Make sure you hit the like button. Make sure you’re subscribing. We’ll come your way live at one Eastern with the BetUS Boxing Show. For Dan Rayfield, I’m TJ Reeves. Don’t forget to check out our sportsbook website. Thank you for being with us here on this edition. Enjoy the fights.