The beauty of the February 22 Riyadh Season card is seen in more than just the high-profile participants and the titles up for grabs.
After years of favorites accompanied by betting lines of -500 or greater in championship bouts, the six-fight Saudi Arabia pay-per-view broadcast has just one prohibitive favorite, with the rest viewed as near pick-ems.
Among the first to post odds on the card unveiled Monday by boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh, FanDuel has listed returning undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev of Russia as an ultra-slight -108 betting favorite over +130 underdog, countryman Dmitry Bivol, in the main event.
(A Beterbiev bettor would need to wager $108 to win $100 while a Bivol bettor would bet $100 to collect $130).
Beterbiev defeated Bivol by majority decision in their tightly contested Oct. 12 bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the winner is expected to head directly into another high-profile bout, with the winner of the Feb. 1 match between WBC interim titleholder David Benavidez and WBA regular belt holder David Morrell lying in wait.
Speaking to the quality of the card, the IBF heavyweight title is placed as the co-main event on the Feb. 22 card, and new titlist Daniel Dubois of England stands as a -245 favorite over former WBA heavyweight titleholder Joseph Parker, a +194 underdog.
Dubois is coming off a fifth-round knockout triumph over two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in September. The finish came on Dubois’ fourth knockdown of the night.
Parker 35-3 (23 KOs) has benefited greatly from the Riyadh Season platform, defeating former champion Deontay Wilder and top contender Zhilei Zhang to land the title shot.
There are no odds yet on a thunderous junior middleweight tilt between Texas’ unbeaten WBC interim titleholder Vergil Ortiz Jnr, 22-0 (21 KOs), and Uzbekistan’s recent WBA belt holder Israil Madrimov, 10-1-1 (7 KOs). That’s because Madrimov needs to first emerge healthy following his Dec. 21 showdown against another bruising fighter, Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk in Riyadh.
The widest favorite is unbeaten three-division and WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson, 22-0 (10 KOs), a -850 favorite over 22-year-old unbeaten and +550 underdog Floyd Schofield 18-0 (12 KOs).
Stevenson’s manager, Josh Dubin, told BoxingScene on Tuesday he’s pleased “we got someone to agree to fight Shakur … everyone else is afraid or they come up with B.S. excuses before they get embarrassed, which this kid [Schofield] will be.
“This kid’s no different. He’s just young and runs his mouth … this is great for Shakur. A big card, great exposure, the world gets to see why he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.”
Dubin said the plan is for Stevenson to move on to another Golden Boy Promotions fighter, consensus top-ranked lightweight contender William Zepeda, and aiming to close the year against fellow unbeaten lightweight titleholder Gervonta “Tank” Davis, who said at his news conference in New York on Tuesday that he’ll retire by the end of 2025.
WBC middleweight titlist Carlos Adames is a +166 underdog to undefeated top-ranked contender Hamzah Sheeraz, a -205 favorite.
Former super middleweight belt holder Callum Smith is a +166 underdog to -205 favorite Joshua Buatsi in a light heavyweight bout, and heavyweights Zhang and Agit Kabayel are also evenly matched.
China’s Zhang is a -138 favorite while Kabayel is slotted at +114.