2020 Oct 04

Joshua Buatsi vs. Marko Calic

10 rounds, light heavyweights

Joshua Buatsi (12-0) has been out of the ring for more than 400 days which is a lot for any fighter. He looked incredibly good in his last fight against Ryan Ford where he was able to really show of his boxing ability. We know that Buatsi is a very good light heavyweight and he would give anyone in the world problems right now today. That is not to say that he would beat the top fighters, but it is obvious that he would be able to hang with the elite guys without looking foolish in any way. However, the long layoff between fights is not good at all and it could be that that he will not look as sharp early in the fight as he usually does. He is fighting Marko Calic (11-0) from Croatia who is somewhat of an unknown to most boxing fans. He has fought several of his most recent fights in Sweden on local club shows which is a little bit strange given the experience that he has from the amateurs. If you didn´t know, we will happily tell you; Marko Calic had over 200 fights as an amateur and he fought and beat many top names. He beat Alen Babic 2 times in the national finals of Croatia and he has several tough bouts with Roberto Camarelle from Italy under his belt. He really had world class experience as an amateur. Given the experience he had you would normally see a guy like that sign with a big name promoter in either the UK or USA but in this case it didn´t happen for some reason. Boxing fans and some insiders seems to think that this will be an easy fight for Buatsi but we disagree greatly with that. The oddsmakers believes that Calic will get blown out rather quickly and the odds for Buatsi to get the stoppage is -500 (1.20 decimal odds) which is very off in our view. Buatsi to win the fight is -3000 (1.03 decimal odds) and Calic to win is +1000 (11.00 decimal odds). In other words they think that Buatsi wins this fight certainly and that Calic will be outclassed in every way. Buatsi has stopped most of his opponents and he does hit hard, no doubt about it, but there is other factors to take in to consideration here. Calic fought most of his career at heavyweight as an amateur which equals cruiserweight in the pro´s. Since he turned professional he dropped down to light heavyweight where he is a very big guy. He has gotten used to power from guys that are much bigger than the guys he is facing now and his chin held up several times against the big punching Roberto Camarelle who looks to punch considerably harder than Buatsi. Another factor that will make it harder for Buatsi to get the stoppage is the fact that Calic is very defense minded and he uses his lead hand in an excellent way. (sign in to view our prediction & pick)

We are not saying that Calic is good enough technically to really beat Buatsi but we are saying that he won´t be taken out quickly in this fight if he gets stopped at all. We have found tremendous value in picking Over 5.5 Rounds for a price of -110 (1.90 decimal odds). If there is a stoppage in this fight it will be late and it will be due to Calic fatiguing which could happen if he is put under much pressure from Buatsi throughout. Another pick we would like to add is that the fight “Goes the distance” priced at +375 (4.75 decimal odds). There is a reasonable chance that Calic will be able to box with Buatsi and stay out of harm’s way for the duration of the fight.

The Pick: Over 5.5 Rounds
Odds: -110 (1.90 decimal odds)
Units: 10
Start time: 6pm ET / 3pm PT
The Pick: To Go The Distance
Odds: +375 (4.75 decimal odds)
Units: 10
Start time: 6pm ET / 3pm PT