Posted on 4/18/2008 1:05:15 PM

Online Boxing Betting – Calzaghe vs. Hopkins

By Charles Jay

It's a fight many online boxing betting fans (and BetUS Sportsbook customers) have been waiting for, and it's finally here - two men who have dominated their respective weight divisions over the years will do battle on Saturday (April 19) in Las Vegas, and although there is no world title at stake, there is plenty of pride, bragging rights, and, though we dread the word, enhanced "legacy" on the line, as world super middleweight champ Joe Calzaghe ventures up to the light heavyweight division to take on Bernard Hopkins.

BetUS Boxing Betting odds:

Light Heavyweights - 12 Rounds

JOE CALZAGHE -300

BERNARD HOPKINS +220

OVER 11.5 ROUNDS -400

UNDER 11.5 ROUNDS +250

CALZAGHE (44-0, 32 KO's), the -300 favorite in the BetUS boxing betting odds, has been undefeated in 22 world championship bouts. he has held the super middleweight title in one form or another for the past 10-plus years. After winning the WBO crown from Chris Eubank in October of 1997, he has continued to defend it, most notably against the likes of Byron Mitchell, Robin Reid and Jeff Lacy, against whom he was particularly impressive., In his last fight, Calzaghe scored a 12-round decision over Mikkel Kessler to unify three of the championship belts - the WBA, WBC and WBO.

Of course, the knock on Calzaghe has been that his roster of opponents has not been overwhelming, and that his grueling defenses have been few and far between. Also, Calzaghe does not come with a lot of power, instead choosing to "nickel-and-dime" his opponent to death with short, sharp accurate punches that have a cumulative effect, not to mention an effect on the judges. In only two of his title defenses have all three judges had the opponent within six points.

HOPKINS (48-4-1, 32 KO's), the +220 underdog at BetUS, held a version of the middleweight title for over ten years. The Philadelphia native originally won the vacant IBF crown in April of 1995 with a seventh-round stoppage of Segundo Mercado, and made 20 defenses before he lost a pair of fights to Jermain Taylor in 2005. He has come roaring back with light heavyweight wins over Antonio Tarver and Winky Wright.

Hopkins is something of an ageless wonder. At 43, he is still fighting at a high level, and did something he had avoided for so long - move up to 175 pounds, which was essentially where he began his career back in 1988. He has wins over some of the bigger names in the sport; aside from Tarver and Wright, he also scored stoppage wins over Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad, which brought him to the attention of people who weren't even boxing fans.

I may not be the biggest fan in the world of Calzaghe's, but there is no denying that he is a very efficient fighter, and even though he has not fought an awe-inspiring collection of opponents, he has also not shown a lot of wear for someone who is 36. He's got a full gas tank and manages to maintain his stamina as the fight goes on.

Hopkins is much the same way, but whereas Calzaghe is a busy fighter, virtually from beginning to end in a fight, Hopkins likes to pace himself and pick his spots, waiting for the opponent to make a mistake. Against some of the people he's fought, he can get away with that. This especially held true for opponents like De La Hoya and Trinidad, who were smaller and a little more susceptible to damage from Hopkins' individual punches.

Against Taylor, Hopkins was vert "patient" and since Taylor didn't take much of an initiative, Hopkins was able to keep those fights close. Hopkins certainly showed something by going to 175 to beat Tarver, but as we just saw last weekend, Tarver is more or less a shot fighter who engaged in a terrible fight with Clinton Woods. And Winky Wright is the kind of fighter who is going to wait on his opponent and counter-punch, so Hopkins didn't have to be worried about a preponderance of firepower.

But with Calzaghe, he's not going to get away with any of that. This is a fighter who is going make Hopkins fight for every minute of every round, and I don't think Bernard has experienced such a thing for quite some time. He's not going to be standing there and waiting for Hopkins to hit him from every odd angle; I see him keeping Hopkins off-balance and landing a lot of those shots, as inconsequential as they may be, because he is so economical and efficient with his punches. And Calzaghe is a tough guy too - he's got no problem brawling with his opponent and can take a punch. It would be extremely difficult for Hopkins to take him out of there.

In a fight that is likely to go to a decision (something that is reflected in the BetUS odds on the total, with is -400 for a distance fight), I think all of this plays to Calzaghe's advantage. I'll look for him to be the busier guy, the guy who scores points, and Hopkins will find himself behind in the fight with no way to catch up. He'll then start to make mistakes of his won that will allow Calzaghe to get through with clean shots, or continue to fight in the pattern he's shown in recent years and survive but close by a rather wide margin on the scorecards.

Either way, I like Calzaghe, the -300 favorite in the BetUS boxing betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY: CALZAGHE (-300) ***

(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

Betting on boxing has never been so easy and you can get your bets in now in the BetUS sportsbook. Go to Other Sports: Boxing. Find tons of props on the fight and the fighters in the Future / props section as well!

(Charles Jay of www.eBookies.com is a former manager, matchmaker and color commentator in professional boxing. He currently pulls no punches in the BetUS Locker Room)