Moneyline Play: Calvin Kattar (+200)
This is a much, much closer fight than any of the odds from oddsmakers are implying. I absolutely think Kattar is a live dog and this should be more aligned with a pick ‘em type of fight.
I am shocked that Kattar is a 2/1 dog here as I believe he has a really good style to present problems and make it a gritty fight for Chikadze. Kattar has very good hand speed and movement to start with so he can instantly get in and out with winning exchanges against Chikadze. I expect it to be a close fight so that is why I have to take a shot on the dog here for value reasons. Barboza did very well in his fight with Chikadze but, Barboza’s durability ultimately ended up costing him the bout. Kattar we have seen multiple times such as against Holloway show just incredible amounts of toughness, heart, and durability. Max unloaded a historic volume of punches and kicks trying to finish Kattar but he hung in there to the judges scorecards.
I get a sense here that everyone is quick to write off Calvin Kattar after he suffered a defeat to an all-time great in Max Holloway (hence the larger dog number on Kattar). He took a lot of punishment but made the right career move by taking plenty of time off to properly heal. We will not know just how much of an impact that Holloway fight had on Kattar’s well-being until Saturday but, I am willing to take a shot on his price as I think we will not see a noticeable decline in his fighting abilities or durability. Look to see Kattar be aggressive in his approach with fast hand combinations and winning the exchanges round by round against a slower opponent in Chikadze.
