The Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan will be packed this evening as six competitive boxing matches take place with three title fights and plenty of local favourites on show as well.
Warming up the ring in the penultimate fight of the evening are Jonathan Gonzalez and Shokichi Iwata who come face to face for the WBO World Lightweight belt. Gonzalez is the incumbent and will look to defend his belt against unbeaten challenger and local hero Iwata.
We preview the odds ahead of this fight from bookmaker William Hill and breakdown all the best bets to be made.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: October 31st, 11:00 P.M. (EST)
Outright odds from William Hill show that Shokichi Iwata is the slight favourite to continue his unbeaten streak and claim the WBO title by defeating Jonathan Gonzalez this evening.
With odds of 1.53 against 2.50, the bookies clearly believe that Iwata is unbeaten for a reason. The 26-year-old has only been fighting as a professional for five years and in that time has developed a professional boxing record of 9-0-0. Of those nine wins, he has won six by knockout, giving him a healthy 67% knockout rate. Iwata comes into this match-up as the slightly bigger man with a narrow height and reach advantage. More notably, Iwata is the younger fighter by five years and has 20 less fights than his opponent.
Jonathan Gonzalez won the WBO title last year when he upset reigning champion Elwin Soto by split decision in October 2021. Gonzalez was the heavy underdog in the match-up yet successfully won the WBO title, which he successfully defended earlier this year against Mark Anthony Barriga in June winning by unanimous decision.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: October 31st, 11:00 P.M. (EST)
Interestingly, bookies have the most likely method of victory in this match-up as a knockout in favour of Iwata. Odds for this results are 2.62 compared to an Iwata decision at 3.50 and a Gonzalez decision at 4.00.
Iwata’s comparative youth, home crowd advantage and strong knockout record all build a strong case in support of him winning this match by knockout. Gonzalez showed that he is susceptible to being knocked out when he lost to Kosei Tanaka in 2019.
Taking Iwata to win by knockout here is not a bad bet, but it wouldn’t be the first time that Gonzelaz has upset a favourite however. A bet on Gonzalez to win by decision at 4.00 also has the potential to be a lucrative wager.
