Boxing betting tips: Saturday night preview featuring Johnny Fisher v Alen Babic and Reece Bellotti v Levis Giles
Boxing fans can look forward to a Saturday night card in London and our Chris Oliver previews the action.
Boxing betting tips
1pt Johnny Fisher to win in rounds 1-2 11/4 (Ladbrokes)
1pt Reece Bellotti to win by stoppage 5/4 (BetVictor, Unibet)
Johnny Fisher and Alen Babic are both out to prove they are more than just a gimmick when they clash at the Copper Box Arena in London on Saturday night, live on DAZN.
Both men began their careers almost as novelty acts, bringing some fun and excitement to shows with neither man expected to ever make an impact at world level further down the line.
With Babic, it was his all-out aggression with little regard to the consequences that made the 33-year-old a favourite with the fans and his James Bond villain-esque alter ego of ‘The Savage’ added to the intrigue.
The Croatian slugger knocked out 10 of his first 11 victims but all were of a low level, and he was given a rude awakening by Lukasz Rozanski when challenging for the WBC title in the newly-formed bridgerweight division, which lies between cruiserweight and heavyweight. Babic was hurt in the opening few seconds and the one-way onslaught continued until the referee saved him in the first round.
That form took a huge knock when Rozanski was then stopped in the first round himself by Britain’s Lawrence Okolie and Babic knows his days in fights of this magnitude will be over if he loses again here.
Fisher’s appeal was evident from the large support on his professional debut and his huge army of noisy fans has been growing ever since.
‘The Romford Bull’ also began with a glut of early wins and has been equally aggressive in compiling a perfect 12-fight record, with 11 of those coming early. With very little amateur experience under his belt, the 25-year-old has been learning on the job and the improvement he is showing suggests he has a considerably higher ceiling than Babic.
That’s why is Fisher is a 1/6 chance this weekend and he has all the physical advantages, being much the bigger man at 6’4” and, perhaps crucially, he is also the quicker of the two.
Babic, who is available at 6/1, is small for a heavyweight and while he makes up for that with a big heart, that could be his undoing again here. He comes out swinging and will go out on his shield, but his eagerness to land makes him easy to hit and his wide punches leave him wide-open down the middle.
I was at the O2 Arena in London when Babic stopped Steve Robinson earlier in the year and, at times, I felt like I was watching two men scrap in my local pub car park, such was the lack of skill and stamina on display. Babic eventually forced the stoppage in the sixth round, but it was a tough watch and that will only have boosted Fisher’s confidence.
Both men like to get on with things and it seems certain that the judges won’t be needed, which is backed up by odds of 1/7 about it not going the distance.
While Fisher is a better boxer and he’s beginning to utilise his long levers with a good jab, he could be forced into a scrap very early due to Babic’s tactics. Also, with Fisher’s fans not having far to travel from Essex to East London, there will be huge support for him, and he will be eager to please them with an early finish.
Don’t blink when the first bell goes as these two will get straight down to business and I don’t think it will be long before someone lands a fight-ending punch. Fisher is the bigger, faster and more powerful, so I fully expect that to be him and there looks to be some value in him winning in the first two rounds at 11/4.
If Fisher wants to be known as more than just a ticker seller, then he needs to be making light work of someone like Babic and I believe he will do just that.
CLICK HERE to back Fisher to win in rounds 1-2 with Sky Bet
Bellotti to defend his title
Reece Bellotti defends his British and Commonwealth super featherweight titles against Levi Giles in what should be another entertaining fight.
Bellotti (18-5) won the Commonwealth strap with an excellent eighth-round stoppage of the previously unbeaten Aqib Fiaz, before adding the British belt by taking the ‘0’ of Liam Dillon via a unanimous decision in February and he is on a real roll right now.
The Watford man was matched very tough for a few years, most notably in his back-to-back defeats to Jordan Gill and subsequent world title holder Ray Ford, but that experience is showing now back at domestic level, and it can prove crucial again here.
Giles’ (15-1) sole loss was to Michael Gomez Jnr, and that was a split decision, but he has only beaten two fighters with winning records, and this represents a jump up in class.
With only four knockouts to his name, I’m not sure Giles has the power to keep the all-action Bellotti off and the latter can certainly dig, with 14 of his 18 wins coming early. I fancy Bellotti to make it stoppage win number 15 at 5/4.
CLICK HERE to back Bellotti to win by stoppage with Sky Bet
Posted at 1120 BST on 5/07/24