Zbik vs Chavez Odds: JCC Jr the Betting Favorite

by Scott Christ on Jun 4, 2011 2:15 PM EDT in Boxing Betting Odds

It might not be the most interesting fight for diehard fans, but the betting lines for Sebastian Zbik vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr are at least a little bit interesting. The 25-year-old Chavez is looking to pick up Zbik's WBC middleweight title tonight in Los Angeles, and add something a little more legit to his budding legacy, and maybe, just maybe, escape his father's shadow in even the smallest of ways.

Sportsbook	Zbik	Chavez
BetUS	+165	-210
Bodog	+190	-250
Odds Shark	+185	-225
Sportsbook.com	+190	-240

Chavez (42-0-1, 30 KO) might be favored simply because he's more well-known, will have home field advantage, and is trained by Freddie Roach. Zbik (30-0, 10 KO) is, like Chavez, not a special fighter by any means, but the oddsmakers seem to realize that money will come in for Chavez here, while the largely unknown (in the U.S.) Zbik is considered yet another patsy for the young Mexican superstar. I really don't have any firm feeling on how this fight will go. I'm not a Zbik fan by any means, but there is the real chance that he's simply too good for a fighter who has in the past struggled with Matt Vanda and Luciano Cuello. This one seems a risky gamble either way.

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I’m backing Junior by decision, but with little conviction that he actually wins the fight. If the entire promotion and HBO backing hadn’t set this up as a Chavez homecoming, I’d probably back Zbik to edge a decisively poor fighter; however, with the power of Top Rank, a hostile crowd and HBO, I got Chavez winning a controversial decision, and subsequently fighting sought-after rematches against Troy Rowland and John Duddy.

"Occasionally, there is a boxing match that, in its demonstration of skill, courage, intelligence, hope, seems to redeem the sport - almost. Perhaps boxing has always been a sport in crisis, a sport of crisis."

by Oli Goldstein on Jun 4, 2011 2:25 PM EDT reply actions

Yes, it will be very difficult for Zbik to win this fight. He`ll probably have almost anyone against him. Then he`s a counterboxer, with a tendency of winning on the clearer shots but displaying a rather unimpressive workate. My impression is, that in the US in general the workrate is regarded more important when it comes to judging, so that`s against him too. For those reasons, I hardly can imagine him winning if not by KO. And that`s the final point against him: he`s a pretty poor puncher.

"Sure, there have been injuries and deaths in boxing – but none of them serious." Alan Minter

by DrHenrik on Jun 4, 2011 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions