Katie Taylor becomes two-weight world titlist
Irish star Katie Taylor created even more history earlier this evening as she outpointed Greece's Christina Linardatou to land the WBO Super-Lightweight World title on an emotional night at Manchester Arena as local hero Anthony Crolla called time on his memorable career by beating Frank Urquiaga.
Taylor boxed and moved stylishly for large spells of her highly-anticipated debut at 140lbs and, despite suffering a nasty cut early on in the bout, earned a unanimous 96-94, 97-93 and 97-93 win to become only the third Irish boxer to win World titles in two weight classes.
"I'm making history again," said an emotional Taylor after her fight. "I'm breaking boundaries again and I'm a two-weight World Champion – and there's still more to come. I thought I boxed beautifully on the outside and I didn't get sucked into a fight."
Crolla grounded out a hard-fought majority decision over Spain's Urquiaga as he ended his 13-year professional career at the arena it began back in 2006. The Mancunian favourite enjoyed a raucous ring walk on his big farewell fight as he did enough for a 95-95 98-92 97-93 majority decision.
Speaking after his fight Crolla said: "Getting the win was the main thing but now I know my time's up. I wasn't nervous coming into the arena but it did get to me a bit when I came out here – knowing it was for the last time.
"Hopefully I've left a bit of a legacy. And I'll be back in the gym training the youngsters and hopefully some of the champions of the future."
Felix Cash stopped Middleweight rival Jack Cullen to retain his Commonwealth crown in a Fight of the Year contender earlier in the night. The Wokingham talent forced an impressive stoppage in the eighth round to settle a thrilling toe-to-toe battle that had the crowd on their feet throughout.
Denaby's Terri Harper celebrated her 23rd birthday in style as she defeated tough Brazilian Viviane Obenauf on points in a successful first defence of her IBO Super-Featherweight World title. 'Belter' produced a polished performance on her Matchroom debut to claim a unanimous decision over Obenauf and keep on course for a showdown with WBC World Champion Eva Wahlstrom early next year.
Heavyweight hope Martin Bakole continued his impressive run of form, defeating USA's Rodney Hernandez inside two rounds to claim his second stoppage win in the space of a fortnight and progress to 15-1 (12 KOs). The Billy Nelson-trained talent wasted no time as he landed hurtful hooks to the body and head before finishing the job in round two.
"To stop two American guys in a few weeks is amazing for me," the Congo Heavyweight told Sky Sports afterwards. "My corner told me this guy will give me a hard time, but I knew he would not be able to take my power. I'm looking forward to next year."
Leeds Super-Bantamweight Qais Ashfaq turned in the best performance of his blossoming eight-fight career to win the vacant WBA Continental title against Glasgow's Joe Ham. The southpaw impressed in his first title win before the fight was stopped prematurely by an accidental clash of heads in round seven. Ashfaq won the belt with scores of 69-64, 70-64 and 70-63.
Another Leeds Super-Bantamweight Hopey Price made a perfect start to life in the professional ranks with a comfortable 40-36 points win over Joe Sanchez, rising Sheffield Super-Lightweight talent Dalton Smith moved to 4-0 by forcing a third round stoppage against Michael Isaac Carrero, Birmingham's Gamal Yafai returned in style by stopping Lee Clayton in three and 'The Naytrix' Nathan Farrell opened proceedings with a four round decision over Ivica Gogosevic.
The Secret to Profitable Sports Betting
By 2024, the sports betting industry will be valued at $155.49 billion. For a long time, gamblers have had to go to casino venues to participate in sports betting on their favorite games like boxing. Online betting has made things easy for gamblers. People can do it from the comfort of their homes.
Boxing is among the sports you can wager.There are four types of boxing wagers on ComeOn betting, and most casino sites. You can bet on all weight categories, including local contests. To take advantage of all the opportunities, you should be good at predicting the outcome of the contests, and wager like a professional.
Professional boxing bettors are making a living out of it: you can do it too.
How to make profits through sports betting
The following tips will help you bet better and make good money.
- Be Good With Math
Understanding basic math will give you a competitive edge. Professional bettors do not solely rely on instincts and their love for sports teams to make decisions. An understanding of math is what distinguishes if you will be profitable or not. Have a sound staking plan, understand the odds, and know how to play with probability to get maximum results.
Multiplication and division are what you will be working with.
- Be on the Lookout for Value
You should see value in any betting decision you make. Failure to do so will not give you the results you want. Value means betting on a game that has excellent odds as opposed to a game that you are most interested in. Take advantage of opportunities, such as high odds. You don’t have to wager on all the listed matches. Instead, save your money and bet only on the favorable odds. The moment you are able to identify value, be consistent: the returns will be impressive.
- Don’t Be Too Ambitious
The probability of winning the bets you place is 30%. You are likely to lose as much as you are going to win. Placing your hope on the big bets is not wise. Unless you have done tons of research and understood how the different teams play, stay away from multi bets. It is understandable to want to target the big win or jackpot. However, the chance of losing it is high, and it is not sustainable. Professional bettors focus more on the value they get from a single bet than the jackpot. To make a living out of sports betting, you should be flexible.
- Create and Know How to Manage Your Bankroll
If you are not careful, gambling could drain your finances. Have a budget for the specific games you bet in. Commit money to sports betting and ensure that you stay afloat. Once you start making wins, you should never go back into your pockets to fund it. Have a clear plan on the money that stays in your bankroll and the amount you take as profit. Remain consistent in financial management.
For beginners, it is advisable to place stakes with little amounts of cash until you fully understand how things are done.
- Have Confidence
Emotional control is necessary, while sports betting. Emotional instability affects the quality of the decisions you make. Having confidence as you make betting decisions increases the chances of winning. The confidence you exhibit at the beginning determines your reaction to different outcomes of the game.
- Never Dwell on the Past
Focusing on the bet that you lost negatively impacts your decisions and focus. Being too excited about a win could also lead to making unwise decisions. For instance, you are likely to go beyond your budget with the hope of winning again. If that does not happen, you end up being frustrated.
The trick is to stick to your initial plan and depend on analysis for decision making.
- Familiarize Yourself with Bookmakers’ Odds
Understanding the psychology will take your betting prowess to a new level. Bookmakers use odds to attract the players to either side of the bet. This is to balance their commissions. Value is found where the interest is excellent.
Also, some bookmakers don’t let the gamblers win by placing certain limitations. Find established bookmakers with fair practices. Betting against other players as opposed to bookmakers also increases your chances of winning.
- Bet on Teams that You Don’t Like Too
You will miss out on many wins if you only bet on the teams you love. The value of most of the disliked teams is always higher. The less the public knows about the team, the better for your stake. The value of the odds should come first and the love for a team second: unless you are betting purely for entertainment.
Success comes with hard work, even in sports betting. Winning a bet sometimes comes by luck. It gets better if you do analysis and understanding how betting works. Be calculative, look out for value, and have confidence in your decisions to make sports betting profitable.