Mick Hennessy for Hennessy Sports stages a cracking evening of professional boxing at the Victoria Warehouse, Manchester on Saturday evening. We have an action-packed bill ahead with Hughie Fury taking on Chris Norrad in a top of the bill tussle. Here are our top Hughie Fury v Chris Norrad betting tips.
The undercard includes a British title fight at super lightweight between Steve Brogan and Adam Hague over 12 rounds with followers of the undercard catching up on the careers of promising pugilists, including Alex Dilmghani, Martin Parlagi, Matty Fagan, Savannah Marshall and Marcel Braithwaite.
The best of the evening’s contests will be shown live on Channel Five with the first bell in the main event scheduled for 10.00pm GMT. It’s not often followers of terrestrial TV enjoy a competitive night of championship boxing but that’s exactly what we have on our hands here and the viewer numbers should reflect the excitement surrounding this one.
Add Extra Heat to Fight Night
You can add a little extra heat to your Saturday fight night by placing a bet on the outcome of the main bouts. Have your say on the winners and throw a few together to create a punchy accumulator or aim for a bigger price and play the specials, such as total rounds, winning rounds and method of victory.
The latter is a particular favourite with punters as it offers a crack at a big price pay out but landing a winner is no mean feat. To beat the bookies in this instance you must correctly predict both the winner of the fight and how they will achieve the result – knockout or on points. A tough ask, of course, but the prizes make it one worth shooting for and those putting in the research, pouring over form and figures, will give themselves every chance of taking the traders down a peg of two.
Thankfully for those in a rush and wanting an interest bet, our team of highly experienced sports betting experts and former professional boxers have done the hard work, so you don’t have to. We’ve run the rule over the two men involved in the main bout, looking at form and style, as well as which bookmakers are offering best odds. The latter is vitally important if you are serious about beating the bookies as you must ensure your stake money is working as hard as possible on your behalf. We’ll ensure it does just that.
Fury Boasts a 21-2-0 Record
Hughie Fury enters the arena with a professional record reading 21 wins against two defeats and no draws. A cousin of former world champion Tyson Fury, he has been a professional since 2013 and was well respected in the division during the early part of his career with many fight fans predicting he would go on to equal the achievements of Tyson. That hasn’t happened to date but at just 24 years old and with world championship experience behind him, Hughie is a progressive fighter who can achieve big things in the sport.
The 6ft 6inch heavyweight suffered his first career defeat when losing on points to Joe Parker for the WBO world title in the summer of 2017. He was edged by a majority decision that night and although the fighter himself and many of his supporters believed he did enough to warrant the win, the truth was Hughie didn’t quite do enough to take the strap from the champion. To win a world title you not only have to beat the champion but rip the belt from around his waist and he didn’t do that at the Manchester Arena.
Fury wasted little time getting his run back on track and with the confidence that comes with going so close to winning a world title so early in his career, he got back to winning ways at the first time of asking. Fury beat Sam Sexton for the British title last May, stopping his opponent in five, before suffering the second set-back of his career.
Gamble Backfired in Bulgaria
Hughie took a gamble in travelling to Bulgaria to face Kubrat Pulev in Sofia over 12 rounds in a non-title fight but that throw of the dice failed to pay off and he was beaten by a better fighter on points. The scorecards that night read 117-111, 118-110, 115-113 with Pulev ending a convincing winner. Many had Hughie picked to spring a surprise against his older, more experienced opponent that night, but he didn’t cause too many problems after the opening three or four rounds.
The best chance Fury had of winning in Bulgaria was to utilise the jab but he failed to do that and, surprisingly, it was Kubrat who won the battle of the jabs, spearing his opponent with strong left hands and forcing him off his stride and back against the ropes. Another important fight Fury failed to win but another one that boosted his progress and there’s little doubt he’ll shape a better heavyweight for the experience.
He’s expected to get back to winning ways on Saturday night and bookmakers have Fury priced as firm favourite to record career win number 22. Punters in agreement with that call will be forced into the specials as there’s currently no more than 1/50 available on him beating Chris Norrad. That price puts us off a bet and won’t appeal to accumulator backers or big stakes players either. £50 to win £1 back. It’s not worth the hassle, especially in a heavyweight contest where anything can happen, and a bout can change with a single punch.
Norrad Unbeaten in 17
Opponent Chris Norrad provides a test as an unbeaten fighter with 17 bouts experience. The 35-year-old from Canada has won each of his outings to date, knocking eight opponents out inside the distance. He has been a pro fighter since 2009 and was last seen beating Abraham Pascaul over six rounds in Mirmichi, Canada earlier this month.
The fact handlers have him out again so soon tells us he will arrive in the UK as a fit fighter with sharpness on side and that will give him the advantage over an opponent who hasn’t featured as regularly as he is used to in recent times. It’s fair to say this represents a real step up in grade for Norrad, however, as he has been winning at a much lower level than he’ll face on Saturday.
Record Falls Flat Under Inspection
When looking at the form of Chris Norrad we’ve got to admit it looks impressive on paper, but it doesn’t quite stand up to closer inspection. His last opponent carried a record of 12 wins against five defeats and the man he faced before that had won 20 and lost 12. This is a long way to travel to go in against a Hughie Fury who is levels above and we’ll see just how much the host has learned from recent challenges.
Fury may have lost to both Parker and Pulev but he was brave enough to go in with them so early in his career and he can’t help but improve from the. Fury would’ve learned valuable tricks of the trade from those fights, as well as a confidence that comes from going the distance against high ranking opponents. Take Fury to deal with Norrad inside the distance. We’re backing him to win this fight in the first six rounds.