Julius Indongo is the underdog against Terence Crawford this Saturday night, but that’s nothing new for Indongo. Is he worth a bet this time?
On Saturday night, boxing crowns an undisputed, unified champion at 140 pounds, when Terence Crawford and Julius Indongo bring their respective titles to the ring. Here are the latest odds, courtesy of Bovada:
Terence Crawford -1100
Julius Indongo +650
Crawford is the understandable favorite. He’s already claimed the gold in the Lightweight division before moving up, he’s ranked #4 pound for pound by Ring Magazine, he’s looked virtually unbeatable in recent fights. But perhaps most importantly of all, he’s just been seen considerably more. Crawford has been a staple of HBO Boxing for the past few years, and they’ve done a good job building up his hype.
But Indongo is absolutely not to be slept on. He’s in this fight for a reason. In December, Eduard Troyanovsky brought Indongo into Moscow as an opponent to defeat. He paid the price. In April, Ricky Burns brought him into Glasgow for a routine title defense. Indongo took his belt. Now, Crawford is bringing him to Nebraska. Crawford is certainly a step above Burns and Troyanovsky, and we haven’t seen Indongo fight at that level. But he’s proven twice that you underestimate him at your own peril. All that said, this is likely the step up that proves too great for Indongo. I don’t feel confident putting money on the underdog here, but he’s too live a dog for a bet on Crawford to make sense. No action here.
Here is the night’s other featured fight:
Oleksandr Gvozdyk -5000
Craig Baker +1400
This is a showcase fight for Gvozdyk, and the odds accurately reflect that. Nothing to see here.
Finally, here’s a quick round-up of where things currently stand with other upcoming big fights:
Floyd Mayweather -500
Conor McGregor +350Miguel Cotto -450
Yoshihiro Kamegai +325Canelo Alvarez +125
Gennady Golovkin -155
Mayweather/McGregor odds seemed to have settled at this point, though I would expect some more shifting in fight week. If you think McGregor debatably knocking down a retired and out of shape Paulie Malignaggi means he will do what Manny Pacquiao failed to do and defeat Mayweather, then by all means, go for the underdog bet there. But Mayweather remains the smart money choice, even at -500.
Join us here at Bloody Elbow for live coverage of Crawford vs. Indongo airing on ESPN this Saturday night at 10:00 p.m. ET.
