Time for our Terence Crawford v Amir Khan betting tips. We have a cracking weekend of boxing ahead for Easter with two shows of note taking place on either side of the Atlantic. In London we see Dereck Chisora return to action on a Matchroom Sports card, the Londoner looking to get back to winning ways following a December defeat at the hands of neighbour Dillian Whyte. Exciting stuff, but it’s just the appetiser.
The real treat comes from New York in the early hours of Sunday morning as BT Sport bring us a blow-by-blow account of Amir Khan’s latest, and probably last, bid at being crowned world champion once again. The Englishman goes to America to take on one of the best fighters in the business at the minute – a real pound-for-pound great – and he boards a plane without too much support from back home. The majority of fight game insiders expect King Khan to lose, and quite convincingly too.
Harsh, but it’s perfectly understandable, given the level of opponent he is in with and his own recent form, hampered by extended periods of inactivity and a stay in the Celebrity Jungle stealing food. If you are a lover of the sport you’re in for a memorable evening, but there’s plenty hold the attention of casual fans too, thanks to the work put in by bookmakers.
Exciting Markets
The money men offer a range of exciting markets and odds on both the London and New York cards and that allows us the chance to boost our betting balance while following the live coverage. Getting paid to watch sport, while wiping the smile off the face of your chosen bookmaker, that seems as near to a perfect scenario as we can imagine.
Our team of former professional fighters and sports betting experts have run their experienced eye over the action from the UK and America, returning with their views on the best bets to beat traders. You can browse a Chisora preview on the boxing section of our site or read on as we pick apart a bout that has people talking. A simple case of how Crawford wins? Let’s see if that’s the case.
Nothing to Lose
Amir Khan goes stateside with nothing to lose. The 32-year-old from Bolton is expected to pick up what will be his fifth career loss and he’ll enter the ring without too much support, and that even includes Brits watching back home. That’s alarming when speaking about an amateur star who is a former world champion as a professional, but the public have never really taken to Khan and we’re not too sure why.
He’s a supremely talented fighter who has the fastest hands we have seen from a high-ranking boxer for a long time. His CV – currently standing at 33-4-0 – also includes wins over some famous names and even the fights he has lost have come against respected opponents. Perhaps the reason many can’t get too excited about Amir is because he has failed to live up to expectations, as well as the hype created by his handlers early in his career. The decision to move to America and be trained oversees didn’t win him too many friends either, critics taking it as a bit of an insult to the sport in this country.
It could be any number of reasons, but the truth is the welterweight can’t be trusted to hold a shot and, despite out-boxing many of his opponents, he has ended on the wrong side of the result due to a painful knockout. A bit of a glorious failure. What’s more British than that? But as fight fans we don’t like to see anyone risk serious injury, least of all one of our own, and that’s what Khan has been doing for a while now. As already mentioned, he’s a great technician, a real fighter’s fighter, but as soon as an opponent applies pressure, he looks vulnerable.
Fans left Frustrated
We saw it last time out when beating Samuel Vargas on points at the Arena Birmingham last summer, boxing his way to a convincing 119-109, 118-110, 119-108 result. Khan knocked Vargas down twice that evening, including early in the second round, but the beaten man hit back, dumping the victor on the seat of his pants late in what was a thrilling second round. It looked, for a split second, like Amir may, once again, manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Yes, it makes him an exciting fighter to watch if you are a neutral, but avid supporters of the game are left frustrated, seeing all the well-schooled skills and ability undone by one punch. A move up to middleweight to face Saul Alvarez looked crazy at best, downright foolish and dangerous to most, and it’s a fight that proved to be a failed gamble. Khan was stopped in six by Canelo, knocked out with the WBC title on the line.
Since then, he has returned to win each of his two comeback bouts which have helped to raise his profile again, but only enough to see him chucked back into the lion’s den, returning to America to face Crawford. What fans wanted was an all-British clash with Kell Brook, a fight marked as a 50/50, what they got was one that has the potential to be another slaughter. Those left in the Khan camp will likely watch this one through the cracks in their fingers, fearing the worst every time Crawford opens up and goes on the offensive.
Traders Say Back Bud
Betting traders are certainly not camped in the away dressing room and despite some major sporting shocks recently, including Tyson Fury and Tiger Woods, those who hold the purse strings say Khan won’t win. Odds-makers have been bold enough to offer 8/1 on Amir and, in a two-horse race, that’s close to insulting to his chances. The draw has been chalked up at 33/1, with Crawford nailed on for the result, no more than William Hill’s 1/12 available.
That’ll chase average punters away from a bet in the method of victory market, if wanting their cash on Bud, but there are plenty of specials available, offering more value. The fight not to go the distance is 4/11 with Ladbrokes, against yes at 9/4 (888Sport). Crawford by KO/TKO is 3/10 (bet365) favourite in the method victory market, ahead of the points cheer at 10/3 with the same firm. Khan by KO/TKO is as big as 20/1 at Ladbrokes, with bet365 giving 14/1 on the away fighter winning over the scoring judges and landing a points victory.
Sit on the Fence
Think it’s inevitable Khan will be knocked down, at least once during this bout? There’s no more than 1/5 on him hitting the canvas, regardless of the result, 3/1 says he’ll break a bad habit and stay on his feet for the duration. The latter will be paid out as a winner if he’s stopped, as long as he doesn’t go down and we make that worth an interest play.
If you’d prefer to sit on the fence and avoid taking sides, the total rounds betting may be of interest. The clash producing more than 9.5 rounds is 13/8, while under 9.5 rounds is 4/9, both quotes taken from the Bet365 website. If you expect an early night you can go for under 6.5 rounds at 6/5, although we say take over 6.5 rounds at a handy 8/13 with Bet365. That’ll do a job in your accumulators.