WBC lightweight champion Dejan Zlaticanin does not believe in offshore bookmaking odds, possibly because the sports gambling lines at, for example, SBG online sportsbook, favor Mickey Garcia to defeat him at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada on January 28th, 2017.
Dejan Zlaticanin +180
Mickey Garcia -220
Zlaticanin Offshore Bookmaking Odds
Zlaticanin has won 15 fights by knockout and looks to add a 16th to his resume – and if successful, presumably update his LinkedIn profile. According to the Montenegrin, if Garcia fights toe to toe, Zlaticanin said he would knock him out. No word on whether he would do so on his momma’s orders, though. Unfortunately for Zlaticanin, this will be a boxing match and not a toe-fencing contest. Perhaps that’s why the sports gambling lines favor Garcia and not him.
Dejan Zlaticanin Stats
Dejan Zlaticanin won the abeyant WBC lightweight title on June 11th, 2016 when he beat Franklin Mamani by TKO, thus becoming the first Montenegrin world boxing champion – as well as a national hero, along with the likes Bajo Stanišić. This will be Zlaticanin’s third fight in the United States and his first in Vegas, reflecting his rise to prominence in the world of boxing. By the same token, this means he is being paired up with increasingly bigger names. Like, he may have KO’d Bojan Žarkov in Zvornik, but then who hasn’t? Been there done that, right? But this is Vegas, baby! It’s the MGM. It’s the big time. It’s time to put up or shut up.
Mickey Garcia
However, he will have to go through Mickey Garcia first, whom as mentioned above is the offshore bookmaking favorite. Garcia is naturally right-handed but likes to switch to southpaw during some of his fights. Wonder if he also has a metallic mandible like Trap Jaw, because that would certainly help explain his boxing success. Garcia is a two-weight former world champion, having held the WBO and Ring magazine featherweight championships in 2013, as well as the WBO junior lightweight title from 2013 to 2014. It is worth nothing that, being undefeated, Garcia never actually lost any of those titles.
Stats to Consider
Additionally, he comes from a boxing family – which is not a euphemism for domestic violence – so the sport is in his blood. On the other hand, this will be only his second fight in three years. Like Fiona Apple’s second album, Garcia’s career spent quite a bit of time in limbo due to a contract dispute. When he came back he did not miss a beat and picked up right where he left off. Moreover, Garcia has enough cred that he is fighting against an undefeated world champion in just his second fight since returning.
Motivation
So even if he does not have the momentum, Garcia certainly has the motivation, which is to put some hardware back around his waist again. Zlaticanin is not incapable of proving the offshore bookmaking industry wrong, but all things considered Garcia should be able to live up to the sports gambling lines. Zlaticanin however is right about something, and it’s that all of the fans are going to enjoy this fight.