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JONES IS BACK - DOES ANYONE CARE?
By CHARLES JAY, Editor/Publisher, TotalAction.com
Posted July 27, 2001
Roy Jones is stepping back up into the pay-per-view arena on Saturday night, in a
light heavyweight title defense against Julio Gonzalez, but many fans are greeting his
appearance with indifference, and few sportsbooks are interested in any action on it. We
managed to find a few online sportsbooks that were taking action on Jones' fight, and the
numbers displayed some variance. Sportsbook.com (http://www.sportsbook.com) has the most
reasonable spread, with Jones going off, as of Friday night, as a -2500/+1800 favorite. At
Intertops (http://www.intertops.com), you have to lay -3333 on Jones to win, with a
takeback of 11/1 on Gonzalez. Sports Interaction (http://www.sportsinteraction.com) has
Jones at -3300/+1300. So clearly you're not getting a whole lot of value, whichever side
you like.
Part of the reason for the lack of interest in Jones' fight, which will be held at the
Staples Center in Los Angeles, is a fan-organized "Roycott" that has gathered
some steam on the internet. Many boxing fans are frustrated with what they feel have been
a series of unsuitable challengers to Jones' throne, and even though Gonzalez comes into
the fight with a 27-0 record, the feeling is the same here.
The Jones-Gonzalez undercard offers a WBC featherweight title fight between champion Erik
Morales, probably one of the world's 20 best pound-for-pound fighters, and unknown Korean
In-Jin Chi, who has greased the political wheel to the rank of the WBC's #1 mandatory
challenger. Chi has no especially notable wins to his credit, and that is reflected to a
certain extent in the numbers offered on the fight at Sportsbook.com - Morales is a
-1600/+1000 favorite, at the only online outlet we have found thus far that is booking
action on the bout.
Danny Williams defends his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles on Saturday night
against Julius Francis, best known to American fans as a former opponent of Mike Tyson (he
went two rounds). But British fans know him as the only man to beat Williams as a
professional. BlueSQ (http://www.bluesq.com) has Williams off as a -400/+275 favorite,
which we feel represents considerable value for Williams, a talented fighter who may yet
contend on a world level. Francis is on his last legs, and lost to a near-amateur a couple
of outings ago. Round betting props are also available from BlueSQ.
TUA-BYRD MEET IN ELIMINATOR
David Tua, who challenged unsuccessfully for Lennox Lewis' heavyweight title last year,
will meet up with Chris Byrd of Flint, Mich. on August 18 in Las Vegas, with the winner to
be declared the International Boxing Federation's #1 challenger for the heavyweight title
(now held by Hasim Rahman). This fight was just announced a couple of weeks ago, and thus
far the only online sportsbook we found with a number is Intertops, which lists Tua as the
-500/+300 favorite. This represents some value with Byrd - if you thought Lewis'
stick-and-move style was difficult for Tua to solve, wait until you see a guy (Byrd) who
is faster, nimbler, awkward as hell, and left-handed to boot. If Byrd can get past the
first couple of rounds of Tua fury (if indeed there is any), the New Zealander could find
himself in a lot of trouble.
Of course, the numbers listed above are subject to change. For best results, as always,
shop around. And remember, we're just reporting; we don't necessarily endorse any of the
sportsbooks mentioned here. All info for news matter only.
Good luck.
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