We get a 12-round WBA light heavyweight title bout Saturday when Dmitry Bivol and Craig Richards meet at AO Arena in Manchester, U.K. The undercard is set to begin at 2 p.m. ET, with the Bivol-Richards fight set for approximately 3 p.m. ET. Below, we break down the Bivol vs. Richards odds, with boxing picks and predictions. The fight card is televised on DAZN.
Bivol vs. Richards: Fight odds
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 8:20 a.m. ET.
Dmitry Bivol -2500 (bet $2,500 to win $100) | Craig Richards +1000 (bet $100 to win $1,000) | Draw +2500
Bivol has an implied win probability of 96.15% with the -2500 money line odds. Those odds can be expressed as a fraction of 1/25 or a decimal of 1.04.
Bivol vs. Richards: Tale of the tape
Dmitry Bivol
Bivol (17-0, 11 KOs) enters this bout as the heavy favorite. The Kyrgyzstan-born fighter will be making his sixth defense of the WBA world light heavyweight title. He eased by Lenin Castillo in an uneventful unanimous decision win on Oct. 12, 2019 in Chicago. The balanced, attacking Bivol is looking to wow the masses and potentially set up a unification fight against Artur Beterbiev.
Bivol has never lost in 17 professional career bouts, but he has forced to go the distance with four straight unanimous-decision victories, last posting a TKO win over Sullivan Barrera March 3, 2018.
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Craig Richards
Richards has worked hard to improve since a unanimous-decision loss to Frank Buglioni Oct. 28, 2017 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. He is 6-0-1 across the past seven fights, with just a draw against Chad Sugden Dec. 19, 2019 as the non-win. He dropped Shakan Pitters in the ninth round in his most recent fight Dec. 18, 2020 in Redditch, and he has 24 rounds of action under his belt since Bivol last was in the ring.
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Bivol vs. Richards: Odds, predictions and picks
Bivol (-2500) is the overwhelming favorite in this one, and there is no way to ever justify risking 25 times your potential return, or $100 for every $4 won, on such a heavy favorite.
Instead, I like BIVOL ON POINTS (+240) for a surprising payday. He hasn’t fought since Oct. 2019, so there could be a little rust, as he gets back into the swing of things. Richards has two full fights under his belt since Bivol strapped on the gloves last.
Bivol topped Castillo 119-108, 119-108 and 120-107 against Castillo, and he has four straight wins by decision. I don’t think he gets the knockout against “Spider” Richards, who will give the big Russian everything he can handle.
If you want some action on this bout, place your wagers at BetMGM now. For more sports betting picks and analysis, visit SportsbookWire.com. Please gamble responsibly.
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