This Tuesday night in Tokyo, the Ariake Arena will crown an undisputed bantamweight champion. Japan’s Naoya Inoue will square off against England’s Paul Butler. Naoya will step into the ring as the overwhelming favourite, both with the crowd and the bookies. As Naoya puts his WBA, IBF and the Ring magazine belts on the line, can Butler cause a roaring upset as he also risks his WBO belt in this clash?
We break down all the latest betting odds with bookmaker William Hill, and give our final predictions ahead of this clash.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 13th, 2:00 A.M. (EST)
Looking at the outright odds to win this match, it’s clear that Naoya Inoue is an overwhelming favourite. William Hill has the Japanese bantamweight at 1.02 to win, well ahead of Paul Butler’s 15.00.
Odds with such a discrepancy are incredibly uncommon in boxing, yet exist for good reason. Naoya Inoue debuted as a professional in 2013 and since then, he’s yet to lose a fight. The 29-year-old has been utterly dominant across his career, scoring 23 wins to maintain an unblemished record across the last decade. In fact, across his 23 fights, only three men have been able to go the distance with Inoue with the other 20 matches ending in knockouts. The last man to do so was Nonito Donaire three years ago, who lost in a unanimous decision to Inoue.
Butler, on the other hand, has a less convincing record. Though he once held the IBF Bantamweight Title in 2014 and currently holds the WBO Bantamweight belt, he has suffered several losses as well. The last of these came in 2018 against Emmanuel Rodriguez where he lost a unanimous decision to the Puerto Rician. Since then, however, Butler has accrued an eight-fight win streak, taking his overall record to 34-2-0.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 13th, 2:00 A.M. (EST)
While it’s almost a given that Inoue will win this match and the odds of 1.02 are barely worth betting, a wager on the method of victory is likely to be more lucrative.
Perhaps the most lucrative punt to take would be on Paul Butler lasting the distance here. Though Inoue is a chronic finisher, Butler is no slouch himself. The man has only be knocked out once in 35 fights, and there’s a good chance he’ll come into this one fighting for pride knowing that lasting the distance against Inoue is as good as a win in the eyes of some.
With odds of 10.00 for Inoue to win by decision, this is a bit of a gamble but would return an excellent reward if Butler is able to knuckle in and last the distance here.
