Anthony Dirrell v David Benavidez Fight Odds and Betting Preview – September 29, 2019

Emerging British heavyweight star, Daniel Dubois looks to enhance his burgeoning reputation this weekend with against the journeyman heavyweight, Ebenezer Tetteh on Friday evening.

But the real fight of the weekend in our humble view is over the Atlantic Ocean, in the United States, and the Staples Center in Los Angeles to be precise as Anthony Dirrell faces the tough task to stop the hugely promising and talented David Benavidez, in a battle for the WBC world Super Middleweight title in the early hours of Sunday morning, UK time.

For the boxing aficionados amongst our readers, they will know that this fight is on the undercard to the Errol Spence Jr – Shawn Porter bout, but the Dirrell versus Benavidez contest could well be the highlight of the evenings’ action.

Tale of the Tape

At 34 years of age, Anthony Dirrell has a fight record of 33 wins, with one draw and one defeat. 24 of his victories have been inside the distance. A two-time world champion, Dirrell won his first world title in 2014, beating Sakio Bika in a rematch (the two had previously fought to a draw), and his second this year, beating Avni Yildirim for the vacant WBC belt.

It is probably fair to suggest that Dirrell is getting towards the twilight of his career, but ‘The Dog’ as he’s so aptly nicknamed, has plenty of fight left. The veteran had plenty of time to prepare for this contest following his victory over Yildirim in February, but this bout could well be his sternest test of his career so far.

Despite being just 22 years of age, David Benavidez has had quite the career already. With 21 professional contests in the books, the man from Arizona has yet to taste defeat and has won 18 bouts inside the distance, which highlights his strong punching power.

Benavidez won the WBC Super Middleweight title in his 19th professional contest with a split decision win over Ronald Gavril in September 2017. Immediately after the first bout, rematch talks began. Gavril thought he won the first bout and disputed the decision. Benavidez stated he wanted to take the rematch to remove all doubt and set the record straight. On February 17, 2018. Benavidez dominated every round, winning via unanimous decision with the scores 120-108, 120-108 and 119-109.

Following the victory, disaster struck for Benavidez as he had tested positive for cocaine from a urine sample collected on August 27 by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency (VADA). He was eventually stripped of his title and received a four months-long suspension through February 2019 by the World Boxing Council. Following the suspension, it was announced that he would be returning to the ring on March 16 in a bout with J’Leon Love, and Benavidez looked at his very best in a second-round knockout win.

Now Benavidez is after redemption, and in particular, he wants his previously owned WBC World Super Middleweight title back. There is an old saying in boxing that ‘styles make fights’. This matchup on Saturday night could well be a classic.

So, who will come out on top? Please read on for our thoughts on some of the key betting markets for this highly anticipated clash.

Match Betting

Since this bout was announced back in June, the betting has been pretty one-sided towards Benavidez, who has been the strong favourite by the bookmakers. However, in recent days, that opinion has been firmed up by some keen interest on the former champion by punters, in the build-up to the fight.

The best price available at the time of writing on a Benavidez victory can be had with Betfred, who offer just 1/6 on victory number 22 for the youthful challenger. Please note that the likes of SportPesa and 10 Bet are as short as 1/10 on Benavidez regaining his title.

It is likely that Dirrell will have to produce a career best to retain his WBC strap, but the veteran can keep his winning thread with victory here, and Black Type offers the stand-out price of 13/2 on the fellow American to prevail. For information purposes, the Draw is likely not to be a serious runner in this bout, but it can be backed at the top price of 28/1 with Betfred once again.

Method of Victory Betting

This market offers some better odds on the outcome of the fight, but you must predict the winner and the correct method of victory, which is a little trickier. However, it does seem very likely that this fight may well not go the full twelve rounds in our view, which does tend to help decide the overall outcome somewhat.

Dirrell has gone the distance in six of his last 13 bouts, while Benavidez has gone the distance just three times in his career, which does highlight who has the definitive punching power in this contest.

A victory for Benavidez by either knockout, technical knockout, or disqualification – which is effectively any win inside the distance of twelve rounds – can be taken with SportingBet at a price of 33/50. A victory for Dirrell by a similar route is available with SportingBet once again at the far bigger odds of 10/1.

My opinion for this fight is that the main focus of bets should be pointed towards either Benavidez to win via a stoppage or the alternative is a victory for Dirrell via the judges’ scorecards, as my belief is that the ageing Dirrell has not got the destructive punching power at the very highest level to get his opponent out of the ring early, which only leaves the decision in his favour.

So, from the betting perspective, a Dirrell win after twelve rounds is available to back with SportingBet at 10/1, while a Benavidez points win can be had with SportingBet again at the standout price of 15/8.

Will The Fight Go The Distance?

A strong indication that this fight will not go twelve rounds is in this market, with ‘NO’ being the short-priced favourite at 1/2 with SportingBet. For punters who believe this fight will go the full distance of twelve rounds, then the 7/5 on offer with the same firm is the best available on the market currently.

Conclusion

We have two fighters in this contest at the polar opposites of their careers. Benavidez was the youngest ever boxer to win the Super Middleweight title just over two years ago, and now he wants that title back after his problems from outside of the ring.

The experienced Dirrell has the chance to really make a name for himself with a victory in this fight, but I cannot see him getting the job done for his supporters, unfortunately. My belief is that the younger, more potent puncher in Benavidez will get the job done inside the distance, to regain his belt.

The 33/50 on offer for Benavidez to win the fight inside twelve rounds looks to be the best bet of the contest from the bets currently available. He can get the job done and then look forward to potential super fights in the division, which could include Britain’s Callum Smith sometime in the future.