The boxing calendar seems slow to get up and running in 2015, but a few odds for the first week of February have started to appear at Several Bookmakers. The big fight this weekend is the ESPN2 “Friday Night Fights” broadcast featuring Sergio Mora and Abraham Han bout for ther USBA Middleweight title. Mora was originally fighting Jermain Taylor for the IBF Middleweight title, and he was a slight favorite in that fight. Now that Han has replaced Taylor, the books have not remade the line, but with the fight being televised, look for a line to turn up soon. Already up at the books is Thursday, February 5th’s heavyweight fight from The Hanger in Costa Mesa, California as once beaten Mike Perez (20-1-1) is a big favorite (-4500) over veteran Darnell Wilson, who pays back at (+1500). Mike Perez is a Cuban who lives in Ireland and is one of the top 20 or 25 heavyweights in the world right now. he has only one loss and one draw on his record, but he went (0-1-1) in 2014 and is looking at this as a bounce back fight. Back in January of 2014, he battled Carlos Takam to a draw on the undercard of Lucien Bute versus Jean Pascal. After that, he lost via split decision to Bryant Jennings on the undercard of Gennady Golovkin vs Daniel Geale in a match Jennings parlayed into a shot at Wladimir Klitschko in April. But for the split decision, that would be Perez in the headlining spot opposite Klitschko. Perez figures to be too much skill-wise for Wilson, who is known as a big puncher. He owns a (25-18-3) record, but is a paltry (2-12) in his last 14 fights. He has experience fighting all over the world and has served as a work horse for many ranked fighters throughout the years. In December of 2013, he knocked out undefeated (36-0) David Rodriguez in the last round of their scheduled six round bout. Perez needs to take this fight seriously, but he probably is since he is coming off a disappointing 2014. The other line that is up is for Saturday, February 7th at the Palasport in Ferrara, Italy when Marcello Matano and Jussi Koivula duel with the IBF vacant Inter-Continental Super Welterweight title on the line. This fight is set to air on Italia 1, and the card features a pair of other regional title bouts, including a women’s Flyweight bout for the European title between Simona Galassi and Loredana Piazza. Matano is (13-1) overall, and Koivula is (17-1). Now, Matano is the hometown boy, as they are fighting in Ferrara, his city of residence and Koivula is making his first fight outside of his native Finland. Matano went (3-1) in 2014, winning and then losing the Italian Super Welterweight title, this will be his first fight against international competition. The line for the fight is set at (-120) payback for both men. Though the over/under is not up for this fight, it could be worth watching as neither man has ben able to maintain a KO percentage higher than 33 percent. It is going to come down to who is the better boxer.
