Boxing Odds: Jamel Herring Vs. Jonathan Oquendo Tops The 3 Most Interesting Bets On Saturday

For the third time, Jamel Herring and Jonathan Oquendo are going to attempt to fight for Herring’s junior lightweight world title. Originally scheduled for July 2 and then for July 14, both bouts were postponed after Herring tested positive twice for COVID-19. But now Herring is healthy, and the boxing odds for Herring vs. Oquendo haven’t shifted much in the past few months as the two prepare to face off.

In addition to Herring vs. Oquendo on Saturday (ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET), Yordenis Ugas will face Abel Ramos on Fox at 8 p.m. ET in a welterweight showdown, while rising heavyweight prospect Jared Anderson will get to show himself off vs. Rodney Harrison on the Herring vs. Oquendo undercard.

Here’s all you need to know about the week in boxing odds.

Boxing odds: The 3 most interesting wagers this week

-Jamel Herring vs. Jonathan Oquendo (-200 for a Herring decision win): For the past few months, Herring (21-2, 10 KOs) has been a heavy betting favorite vs. Oquendo, somewhere between -1400 and -1600 (Oquendo has been between +650 and +800). It probably doesn’t pay to wager on the money lines. Instead, I think getting Herring at -200 for a decision victory is a solid deal (he’s +187 to score a stoppage victory). Oquendo (31-6, 19 KOs) has been knocked out twice in his 16-year career, but it’s been eight years since he was stopped and the two fighters who knocked him out (Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. and Juan Manuel Lopez) were strong punchers. Herring doesn’t have much knockout pop, and I’d put money on Oquendo surviving all 12 rounds but losing a wide decision.

-Yordenis Ugas vs. Abel Ramos (-150 for a Ugas decision win): It’s yet another primetime boxing show on Fox where the A-side fighter is a ridiculously large favorite. It happened a few weeks ago when Shawn Porter was about -1200 vs. Sebastian Formella, and it’s similar for Saturday where Ugas is -1600 (wager $1,600 to win $100) and Ramos is +700 (win $700 on a $100 bet). I wouldn’t bet on Ramos (26-3-2, 20 KOs) to win, but he does have experiencing facing (and losing to) top-notch opposition (Regis Prograis, Jamal James and Ivan Baranchyk). He’s not a pushover, and I expect him to last the distance. So, you could put money on Ugas (25-4, 12 KOs) winning by decision at -150. It’s a slightly better deal than the fight lasting the full 12 rounds (with either fighter winning) at -175 or the over-under of 10.5 rounds (-188 to go over).

-Jared Anderson (-4130) vs. Rodney Hernandez (+1630): With money lines like this, there’s not much point in wagering on this bout—unless you can find some prop bets. Anderson (5-0, 5 KOs), aka “Big Baby,” has had a busy summer, scoring two victories inside the Las Vegas bubble. And there’s no reason to think the result will be any different vs. Hernandez (13-9-2, 4 KOs).

If you wanted to parlay the Herring and Ugas money lines from above, you could get that for about -830. If you wanted to parlay the prop bets from above (Herring to win by decision, Ugas to win by decision), it’d pay off at +150.

What happened with last week’s boxing odds?

-Thirteen months after brutalizing Maurice Hooker and knocking him out to unify two of the 140-pound titles, Ramirez defended those belts against former world titlist Viktor Postol. Ramirez’s money line was a too-big-to-bet -715, but you also could have gone with Ramirez winning by stoppage (+240) or Ramirez winning by decision (-175, which is what I suggested). He almost did neither. But in the end, Postol’s upset bid fell short, and Ramirez defended his junior welterweight belts by majority decision (I scored the fight a draw). Presumably, Ramirez will face Josh Taylor sometime next year to crown an undisputed champion. With the way Ramirez performed last Saturday, he should be the underdog vs. Taylor.

-Before the Erislandy Lara vs. Greg Vendetti matchup, I wrote last week,  “Against Vendetti, Lara (whose money line was -5000) could be ripe for another KO victory, which would be his fourth in his last six fights. But I don’t like those -450 KO/TKO odds. Instead, you could get 3/1 on your money for a Lara victory by decision. I think that’d be a smarter play.” And that’s what happened. Lara, who made a $500,000 purse, won by unanimous decision.

-Daniel Dubois dominated Ricardo Snijders, knocking him down three times in the first round and then finishing him for good in the second round. Dubois was -3300 to win by stoppage, so the KO was hardly unexpected. I suggested to grab a Dubois knockout in rounds 4-6 for +400 or in rounds 7-9 for +1000. Instead, he paid off those who wagered on the -300 odds for him to win in the first nine minutes of the bout.

Tracking boxing’s future wagers

Showtime hosted press conferences this week for the Sept. 26 PPV card that will feature the Charlo brothers. I asked Jermell Charlo’s trainer, Derrick James, if he was surprised that Charlo’s upcoming opponent, Jeison Rosario, clobbered unified 154-pound titlist Julian “J-Rock” Williams to take his belts last January. Said James, “At that point, any guy can have a bad night. I saw his fights before, and I saw what he brought to the battle. I knew he’d be tough. Was I surprised? I think so. J-Rock is a pretty good fighter. [Rosario] really showed out. He landed those shots that were the right shots.” The money lines for this fight, though, haven’t moved. As of this writing, Charlo is still the -400 favorite with Rosario as the +275 underdog.

Gambling tweet of the week

Just in case you’re interested in betting on the Trump vs. Biden showdown.