My First Live Boxing Experience

Whenever my friends hear that I attended last weeks boxing at the Newcastle Arena with my brother-in-law where we watched Amir Khan retain his WBA Light-Welterweight boxing championship with a devastating seventy six second knock-out against Dmitriy Salita they laugh and mention that we must be upset the fight was so short. They are surprised to hear that we were a little burned out from watching over six hours of boxing at that point so the quick ending was not such a disappointment for us.

I managed to chat to a few sports betting fans who had thought the fight might be close, but when a fighter like Khan takes to the ring, win or lose sometimes the fights are short. They went home happy when their boxing bets backing Khan to win at odds of around 1.30 came in so they could collect a nice win.

We arrived at the arena at around 6pm and there was a fight already in the ring when the stewards opened the doors and let the audience in. There was a young fighter called Ritchie Heffron from Liverpool making his professional debut and he won after two one sided rounds after his opponent suffered an arm injury. Other fights followed in quick succession, with James De Gale, Billy-Jo Saunders and Frankie Gavin all earning their next win in their fledgling professional careers. Frankie Gavin had a hard fight, we saw him talking to someone at the back of the floor area and his face showed signs of a tough battle. Alex Arthur lost to a local fighter and that drew a nice cheer from the partisan crowd who cheered Nigel Wright from Crook to victory.

Watching the boxing live comes highly recommended. There were a couple of punch-ups in the crowd behind where we were sitting because some people got a little over excited and had a drink but overall the atmosphere was lively but sensible. We left eager to return again in the future. We even caught a glimpse of David Haye as he entered the arena to watch the action and laughed at a few fans who walked past him and then suddenly realised that the new Heavyweight champion of the world had just passed by and gaped in amazement!

What can boxing betting fans look out for in future fights? Shane Mosley fights Andre Berto for the WBC Welterweight belt and Mosley is favourite at 1.45 to defeat Berto who has odds of 2.75 for the victory. That fight takes place on January 31st 2010 in the USA so watching that fight means staying up late at 3.00am if you are in the UK. Keep an eye on bwin announcing details of their live streaming for those who like in-play betting on boxing fights.

The biggest fight of 2010, and for many years it can be argued, will be the showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jnr and Manny Pacquiao. Manny has enjoyed high profile victories and looked highly impressive during wins over Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto. Sunday March 14th 2010 is the prospective date for this bout although final details are still being ironed out by the respective camps.

Mayweather, because he is undefeated, is 1.67 to win this bout, whilst Pacquiao has odds of 2.25 for the victory. The draw is 19.00. This will be a classic bout for not only the reputations of the fighters but in the contrast of styles. Mayweather is the best defensive boxer in recent years, perhaps of all time, whilst Pacquiao is certainly the most devastating pound for pound puncher currently boxing professionally. Boxing fans are licking their lips at the prospect of this fight. I believe the 2.25 is a good price for Pacquiao as Mayweather has only fought twice in two years, although he keeps himself in excellent physical shape between fights.

It is rumoured that the fight will take place either at the MGM grand or at an American Football stadium where up to 100,000 fans could be in attendance. One not to be missed for any sports betting fan.

Look out for a big year in 2010 for boxing fans and boxing betting fans.

By Malcolm Clarke