The sport books are looking at a pair of events on Wednesday, April 27 from Australia and Japan. Th Convention & Exhibition Centre in Brisbane hosts a six-fight boxing card that has undefeated Jeff Horn (13-0-1) facing veteran Randall Bailey (46-8) with a pair of regional belts on the line. Horn is currently listed as a -390 favorite over Bailey, who is returning at +300. Horn represented Australia at the 2012 Olympic games, and he has racked up regional titles, and despite a low number of professional fights, this will be his eighth bout of 10 or 12 rounds. For his part, Bailey is 41 years old, but he has 39 knock out wins and is still considered a dangerous puncher. He has held world titles at 140 and 147 pounds, but to put things in perspective, he held the WBO light welterweight title from May of 1999 until July of the following year. Bailey has fought the likes of Miguel Cotto and Devon Alexander, with Bailey losing to Alexander by decision in 2012. Horn has been fed a list of international opponents, but none are the top shelf. Bailey is pst his prime but he should represnt a good test for Horn. He took all of 2014 and half of 2015 before returning in June. He has gone 2-0 since with two K.O.s so Horn is still facing a swinger. In Tokyo, the Ota City General Gymnasium hosts a trio of world title fights, and two are getting attention at the sport books. The WBA’s “Super World” Super Featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama (24-0-1) returns to action to face the challenge of once beaten Jezreel Corrales (19-1) of Panama. The southpaw Corrales comes in a +425 underdog to the long-time champion Uchiyama, who is paying at -610. Uchiyama is a fighter who has held a world title for the last five years, but the walls are closing in around him. He is now 36 years old and he has never fought outside of Japan. There were rumors of negotiations with Top Rank to face Nicholas Walters, but Uchiyama instead elected to face Corrales at home. Corrales is twelve years younger, and the lone loss of his career came in his second fight, so he has not lost a fight since April of 2009. WBA Super Flyweight titleholder Kohei Kono (31-8-1) defends his belt against Inthanon Sithchamuang (28-7-1). Kono is the hot name in Japanese boxing right now, as his last outing saw him fight Koki Kameda in Chicago as a big underdog. Kameda made noise in Japan when he migrated to the USA and joined Al Haymon’s stable, so the fight was very tense and Kono emerged a hometown hero. In this fight on Wednesday, Kono is a massive -5000 favorite over Thailand’s Sithchamuang who is returning at +2000. Also on the card is WBA Light Flyweight champion Ryoichi Taguchi (23-2-1) as he faces Juan Jose Landaeta (27-8-1) so check back later to see if the odds for that fight pop up.
