This Saturday (September 6, 2014) the US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio will play host to a card with a main event featuring Light Welterweights Adrien Broner and Emmanuel Taylor. Broner is a solid (-1200) favorite over Taylor, who returns (+775). Broner (28-1) is still trying to rebound from his December 2013 loss to Marcos Maidana. Broner was a big favorite heading into that fight (-500) and Maidana made him look bad from start to finish. That match was as a welterweight, which was a two division weight class jump for Broner, who was the WBC Lightweight Champion but did not compete as a Light Welterweight until after the Maidana loss. Broner is still just 25 years old, and he is talented. He appears to have dialed down the rhetoric just a bit, which is good, because if he concentrates on just boxing for a few years, it would benefit him greatly. His one outing as a Light Welter saw him outclass Carlos Molina (17-1-1), a fighter who was looking to brawl and employ the Maidana game plan. Emmanuel Taylor saw his star fade fast after he took a loss to a former kickboxer named Chris Algieri, but with Algieri’s recent success, Taylor could be motivated to make one more run and kickstart his career. Broner should get by this challenge, and he will hopefully concentrate on dominating this weight class over the next 18-24 months. The Showtime broadcast also features Light welterweights Roberto Ortiz (+650) as the underdog when he takes on Lucas Martin Matthysse (-1000) of Argentina. Matthysse is a slugger with 33 KOs in 35 wins, and he is likely being established on this card as a future opponent for Broner. That match-up would be interesting on many levels, as Matthysse has three career losses, and the two he sustained facing Zab Judah and Devon Alexander in late 2010 and 2011 were split decisions, and though he lost to top ranked Danny Garcia in 2013, the cards were (114-112,115-111,114-112) so Matthysse is a legitimate threat to beat Broner if the two do meet. Another bout features former WBC Welterweight champion Andre Berto as a massive favorite (-7000) in his bout against Steve Upsher Chambers. Berto is training to bounce back from back-to-back losses and is in a must win situation. Chambers is a local fighter with a solid record, but the line reflects his two losses in a row as well. For Chambers, Berto represents a major step up from the two fighters who beat him in terms of skill, and those two losses came in Chambers’ first two fights on a bigger stage.
