Several boxing cards scheduled for Friday night, January 9th in the United States are getting some last minute attention at the sport books. Lines have been posted for events at the Chumash Casino and the Morongo Casino out in California as well as the show at the Madison Square Garden Theatre. No over/under action, just lines but all three cards are on TV. The Chumash Casino event will air on ESPN 2 and features Lightweight action as Johnathan Maicelo is an underdog (+240) to Darleys Perez (-320) as they duel for an interim WBA World Lightweight Title. Perez is making his third defense of the interim belt and he has an excellent (31-1) record, with his lone loss coming to Yuriorkis Gamboa back in June of 2013. Maicelo, from Peru originally, has a solid (21-1) record, but this is his step up to the world title picture, and he has no one on his resume like Perez. In support of the main event with 10 rounds at Light Middleweight, Francisco Santana is a big favorite (-2600) over undefeated Kendal Mena (+1200). Mena is from the Dominican Republic, and this is his first fight awayfrom his home country. It is also the first of his fights to be scheduled for more than six rounds, so Santana has a wide experience advantage. The live card features six fights in all. Parts of the Morongo Casino show will air on Showtime with a 10 round main event at Lightweight featuring undefeated Ukrainian Ivan Redkach (17-0) taking on veteran Yakubu Amudu (21-5-2). Amudu is a big underdog at (+900), with Redkach paying back at (-1850). At Heavyweight Damon McCreary is the underdog at (+1300) to undefeated Charles Martin (-3000). The fight is over six rounds, as Martin pads his resume before a step up in competition. Though the line is very losided, undefeated Middleweights Maurice Louishome (+3000) and Ievgen Khytrov (-11000) square of in a scheduled eight-rounder. The Madison Square Garden Theater card will air on Fox Sports 1 and is a card that will likely get a lot of attention being promoted by Roc Nation Sports. Middleweight Tureano Johnson (-1050) faces Alex Theran (+550) for EBA and WBC regional belts. Both men have identical (17-1) records, and it is hard to give either of them an edge in overall quality of opponents. Johnson has been fighting in the United States, but his record is sprinkled with fights in his native Dominican Republic that are questionable. For his part, the bulk of Theran’s record is from his native Colombia. At Welterweight, Tomy Rainone will be the underdog at (+1000) when he faces Dusty Hernandez Harrison (-2000). This fight is for a vacant WBC Continental Americas Title as the undefeated Harrison attempts to up his profile. Rainone has been on a good streak since mid-2012, going (5-0-1) to improve his overall record to (22-5-1). In his last outing he won a USBO Welterweight title, put Harrison is just a notch above overall. The overall live event has nine bouts, and it is worth checking back to see if more lines pop up for this event, as there is an IBF regional belt on the line between Chris Van Heerden and Cecil McCalla that could pop up at the books as well.
