By Karl Freitag
In Brooklyn, unbeaten IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (24-0, 19 KOs) is a -163 favorite to successfully defend his world title against 48-year-old former two-division champion Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KOs) according to bet365.com. Backers of Hopkins can get +125. Looking at recent form, B-Hop was defeated by Chad Dawson in his last fight, while Cloud won a controversial split decision over Gabriel Campillo in his last outing. Historically, Hopkins has excelled in underdog roles and a win here would break his own record as the oldest man to win a major world boxing championship. Can Hopkins do it again at 48, or will youth be served?
In Cloud-Hopkins co-feature, unbeaten jr middleweight Keith Thurman (19-0, 18 KOs) is a huge -1000 favorite to defeat the more experienced former world champ Jan Zaveck (32-2, 18 KOs), who is at +550.
In Costa Mesa, California, challenger Argenis Mendez (20-2, 10 KOs) is a -163 favorite to dethrone world champion Juan Carlos Salgado (26-1-1, 16 KOs) in their IBF jr lightweight rematch. Salgado, who won a controversial decision in their first fight, is +125.
Same tight odds are in Guadalajara, Mexico, for the WBC flyweight eliminator between former champions Ulises “Archie” Solis -163 and Edgar Sosa +125. Sosa enters as WBC silver beltholder, but Solis already holds two close wins over Sosa, both occuring a decade ago.
