Jorge Linares vs Anthony Crolla Preview March 25th

Hometown hero Anthony Crolla will be trying to take back his WBA Lightweight Championship from Jorge Linares of Venezuela in their rematch this Saturday, March 25^th. The 12-round bout will be held at the Manchester Arena in England, the same site as their first fight, and can be seen live in the U.S. on Showtime. Fans in the UK can catch the action on Sky Sports 1. Linares won their first meeting last September with an entertaining and hard-earned unanimous decision by scores of 115-114, 115-113, and 117-111.

Linares vs Crolla Betting Odds

Crolla Round 8 @ 33/1 (Sky Bet) Crolla Round 9 @ 33/1 (Sky Bet) Burns Round 9 @ 55/1 (Paddy Power) Burns Round 10 @ 55/1 (Paddy Power) If you want to cover all bases, it could be worth having a speculative dart in the Round Betting market. One of the areas in which Burns does have the upper hand over Crolla is punch power. Welcome to the Adam Carolla Podcast! The new home for the rantings and ravings of Adam Carolla. This is the #1 Daily Downloaded Podcast in the World. Anthony Crolla betting odds history. Boxing odds comparison service. Find and compare the latest boxing lines from the top online betting sites.

1. He will aim to make quick work of Crolla. Lomachenko vs Crolla Odds The oddsmakers have listed Lomachenko as an incredible -5151 favorite to win this fight, odds so big that it barely makes sense to wager on him. The more intriguing bet asks how many rounds this bout will go.
2. THE Premier League title race is on hold until Sunday so it's all about the fight for the top four on Saturday while we have the first Scottish Cup semi-final. I've posted separate Scotttish and English previews where most of my top tips are reasoned. Also plenty of tips and match previews form the usual tipsters. It should be an interesting day with some big issues to be settled at the top.

Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).

• Anthony Crolla +185
• Jorge Linares -220

My Pick

The 30-year-old Crolla will enter the ring with a record of 31-5-3 along with 12 Kos while the 31-year-old Linares is 41-3 with 27 Kos under his belt. Crolla resumed his career after suffering a fractured skull and broken ankle in an attack a couple of years ago. The boxer heard a commotion in his neighbour’s yard and decided to intervene when it looked like the neighbour was about to be robbed. Since then he’s fought Darleys Perez of Colombia twice with a draw and a win via fifth-round stoppage, then beat Ismael Barroso.

Crolla captured the WBA Lightweight crown in the second meeting with Perez and lost it to Linares last year. The Englishman stands just over 5-feet-8-inches tall and has a 67-inch reach. He turned pro back in 2006 and has gone 239 rounds since then, but doesn’t possess much in the way of power with a current knockout ratio of just 33 per cent. Crolla’s other four losses have been against domestic opponents. He drew with Derry Mathews and was beaten by Youssef Al Hamidi and lost twice to Gary Sykes.

In addition, Mathews stopped him in the sixth round back in 2012. However, he’s also fought some decent British opponents such as Andy Morris, John Watson, Willie Limond, Gavin Rees and John Murray. Crolla has fought extremely well since his injuries and has looked world class in his encounters with Linares and Perez. He’s improved greatly over the past couple of years and more than held his own against Linares in their close first fight.

The 31-year-old Linares has a plenty of experience, skill and speed and is a former featherweight, super featherweight and WBC lightweight world champion. He won the vacant WBC belt back in December, 2014 by stopping Javier Prieto in the fourth round in Tokyo, Japan, where Linares now calls his home. However, the WBC stripped the title from Linares in February of 2016 after he suffered hand injury and wasn’t able to defend the title. They then named him WBC Diamond Champion for what it’s worth.

Linares’ three losses have been against Juan Salgado in 2009, Antonio DeMarco in 2011 and Sergio Thompson in 2012. Those defeats revealed a questionable chin since all three men stopped him. Linares’ biggest wins have been over Crolla, Jesus Chavez, Oscar Larios, Nihito Arakawa and Rocky Juarez. The Venezuelan Linares stands 5-feet-8-inches tall with a 69-inch reach and has fought 256 rounds since turning pro in 2002. He carries a 61 per cent knockout ratio around with him.

He definitely has more power than Crolla, but didn’t really hurt him in their first meeting. Crolla needs to use his mobility and slick combinations against Linares since he doesn’t really have the power to slug it out with him and will definitely have the crowd behind him. However, since Crolla lacks power, Linares was able to control the first fight with quick, accurate punches and fine footwork. Crolla was the betting favourite heading into the first fight and Linares is rightfully the favourite this time around.

Prediction…

Linares has more experience against tougher opponents, but is a little older than Crolla. He’s also been stopped in all three of his losses, but Crolla isn’t known as a knockout puncher. Crolla’s biggest asset is his heart and determination and he’s surprised a few people by winning and defending a world title. Crolla should have gained some confidence in the first meeting as he was in against a better boxer with more power. Linares’ is the better all-round boxer here though, and unless this bout is going to be used to set up a trilogy, Linares should retain his title by win or draw.

Linares is rightfully the close favourite here.

Play: Linares -220 @ BetOnline.ag

Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form

Anthony Crolla betting • Jorge Linares betting

WBA (Super), WBO, and The Ring magazine champion Vasyl Lomachenko is one of the most talented boxers in the history of the sport.

The Ukrainian is already a ring legend, despite having fought just 13 professional fights. As it stands, he is 12-1 to date, with the only loss of his career coming in controversial circumstancesto the rough and ready Orlando Salido in 2014.

A two-time Olympic gold medalist, the 31-year-old made the transition to the pro ranks following an incredible amateur career where he amassed a record of 396 wins with just 1 loss.

In just his third professional bout, Lomachenko beat Gary Russell Jr. in June 2014 to win the WBO featherweight title. He is a three-time world champion who will have fought 11 individualchampions by the time the final bell sounds at the Staples Center on April 12.

If you are unfamiliar with just how good this guy is, you’re missing out. Seriously.

One man who will certainly know the talents of Lomachenko is his next opponent, Anthony Crolla.

The key question in the boxing community regarding this fight surrounds what Crolla can do that no other opponent has done since Salido — beat Lomachenko.

It’s difficult to see anyone beating Lomachenko at this time. Crolla, a man with six pro losses in his career, doesn’t exactly seem the strongest candidate out there.

There is no doubt that the Brit has a mammoth task on his hands. As it stands, Lomachenko vs. Crolla is seen as one-sided of an affair as you can get, with pundits, bookmakers, and boxing betting sites all heavily favoring the man known as “The Matrix.”

Corolla Battery Size

After all, if you take your ring name from a late-1990s Keanu Reeves film, there has to be something special about you, right?

Crolla Betting Calculator

In the battle for nicknames, “Million Dolla” Crolla is lagging behind a little.

Crolla Betting Odds

By the time April 12 comes around, nicknames will be the last of the 32-year-old’s worries.