Promoter Don King's "Gateway to Greatness" fisticuffs doubleheader has become a tripleheader, giving boxing betting fans—particularly those gamblers fond of parlays—even more reasons to become financially involved in the trio of 12-round world championship fights, in St. Louis, Aug. 7.
The main event features WBC and IBF junior welterweight champion Devon Alexander "The Great" taking on former titleholder Andriy Kotelnik. The supporting card offers IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris "Thunder" Cloud against the former holder of that belt, Glen "Road Warrior" Johnson. Also, Cory "Next Generation" Spinks, the IBF junior middleweight champion, faces Cornelius "K9" Bundrage in a bout that originally was scheduled for June 12 but was moved to this date to complete the tripleheader.
Alexander (20-0, 13 knockouts) opened as a -600 favorite (bet $600 to win $100) to retain his 140-pound title against Kotelnik (31-3-1, 13 KOs), the +400 underdog (bet $100 to win $400). The total on the bout 9 1/2 rounds with "over" bettors having to lay -333 that the fight reaches the midway point of the 10th round while gamblers who prefer the "under" take +240 that the end comes before that. There's also a proposition on whether the bout goes the full 12-round distance with "yes' as the -140 favorite and "no" as the even money underdog.
There's also a prop on how the fight ends: Alexander by decision, -110; Alexander by KO, TKO or disqualification, +150; Kotelnik by decision, +650; Kotelnik by KO, TKO or DQ, +900; and +3300 for a draw.
The truly enlightened, or those just wishing to take a shot at a big price, can attempt to pick which fighter wins in which round, a wager that could pay as high as 100/1. Of course, if the fight goes the distance, the house keeps all the money.
Alexander, who is considered one of the best pound-for pound boxers in the world, wanted to fight Marcos Maidana (28-1, 28 KOs) but the bout couldn't be made so Kotelnik, who hasn't fought since losing to Amir Khan last July but also is the only man to beat Maidana, gets the title shot.
Cloud (20-0, 18 KOs) opened as a surprisingly modest -200 favorite to beat the amazingly resilient 41-year-old Johnson (50-13-2, 34 KOs), the +160 underdog.
The over/under on the fight is 8 1/2 rounds with "over" offered as the -200 favorite and "under" listed as the +160 underdog. It's -135 that the fight goes the full 12-round distance and -105 that it ends before the final bell.
Boxing betting fans who wager on how the fight will end get all "pluses": Cloud by decision, +160; Cloud by KO, TKO or DQ, +200; Johnson by decision, +350; Johnson by KO, TKO or DQ, +350; and a 12-round draw, +2500.
Group round betting, where a cluster of rounds are offered, also will be available to the boxing betting aficionado. For example, Cloud by stoppage in rounds 4-6 is +1600 while Johnson by stoppage in rounds 7-9 is +1400. There's also individual round betting where the biggest price is +5000 for a Johnson KO or TKO of Cloud in round 1. The smallest return you'll get for choosing which fighter wins in the exact round is +2500 for a Cloud stoppage of Johnson in either round 9 or round 10.
Cloud and Johnson were scheduled to fight in April but an injury to the champion postponed the bout. Cloud is coming off a unanimous decision win over Clinton Woods, who beat Johnson by split decision four years ago, not that the verdict in that fight necessarily portends anything for this meeting.
Sportsbooks have been slow to add prices on the Spinks-Bundrage bout but odds should be posted in plenty of time for those gamblers looking for a three-man parlay. Spinks (37-5, 11 KOs), who will be the favorite, is a five-time world champion who is part of the legendary St. Louis fighting family that also includes his father, Leon, and uncle, Michael, both former world heavyweight champions. Spinks is coming off a split decision victory over Deandre "The Bull" Latimore in which he won the vacant IBF 154-pound title.
At age 37, Bundrage (29-4, 17 KOs) will be fighting for his first-ever world championship. A winner of just three of his last six bouts, Bundrage will be an underdog to Spinks on a King promoted card that will offer boxing betting fans lots of opportunities to express their opinion.
