Pierce O’Leary faces Mark Chamberlain in Saturday's big fight in Dublin and our Chris Oliver previews the action.
Boxing betting tips: Saturday August 1
2pts Pierce O’Leary to win by decision at 5/4 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power, bet365)
1ps Royston Barney-Smith to win by stoppage at 6/4 (Quinn Bet)
Pierce O’Leary finally gets his chance as a headline act when he takes on Mark Chamberlain at Dublin’s 3Arena on Saturday night, live on DAZN.
After Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua stole the headlines with their respective outings last week, this weekend’s action isn’t as high profile but don’t let this cracking super lightweight contest go under the radar.
O’Leary (16-0, 11 KOs) has been spoken about as a hot prospect for some time but it was his last outing that really got people talking and suggested he could go all the way to a world title.
Acting as chief support on the undercard to Anthony Cacace versus ‘Jazza’ Dickens at this same venue in March, O’Leary stole the show when battering the seasoned Maxi Hughes for five rounds before the latter’s corner pulled him out.
Having grown up a stone’s throw from this arena, the pressure was on O’Leary that night after he reportedly sold a massive 5,000 tickets and he duly delivered with a serious statement against a tricky veteran.
A star was born that night and he now has to prove it was no fluke in the toughest test of his career against Chamberlain.
The latter was in a similar position as O’Leary is right now prior to suffering a surprise defeat to Josh Padley, who stole Chamberlain’s unbeaten record with a unanimous decision victory in September 2024.
After a routine comeback fight, Chamberlain (17-1-1, 12 KOs) was then thrown in against unbeaten puncher Jack Rafferty when last seen 11 months ago and produced a big performance in one of the fights of last year.
In a real barn-burner of back-and-forth action, Rafferty started strongly before Chamberlain enjoyed plenty of success down the stretch, and nobody could argue with a majority draw at the final bell of a really close contest.
That put Chamberlain back on the map and his reward for that impressive performance is to be tested against another red-hot prospect in O’Leary’s backyard.
The Dubliner is a best price of 1/2, and Chamberlain can be backed at 2/1, with the former’s huge local support factored into his price.
In a tough fight to call, home advantage could count a lot for O’Leary, especially if this goes the distance, and it is just 4/9 that we hear the final bell.
O’Leary is big for the weight and likes to use his size by applying aggressive pressure on the front foot. He is no one-trick pony, though, as he puts his shots together very well, often to the body, and his impressive feet allow him to cut the ring off smartly.
He imposed his size and power on the smaller Hughes, who just couldn’t keep his man off as O’Leary ploughed forward from the get-go and was landing plenty of heavy leather.
Facing a southpaw that night was good preparation for O’Leary as he takes on another left-hander in Chamberlain, who is much more natural at 140lbs than Hughes, and may not be bullied as easily as the Yorkshireman.
Chamberlain also got some good preparation for this bout by facing another heavy-handed pressure fighter in Rafferty, and he stood up to that test with a gutsy performance to ask serious questions of his unbeaten rival.
Tall for the weight, Chamberlain throws good long, straight punches and does 12 rounds well. He also takes a good shot and, despite carrying good power, O’Leary will do very well to get rid of Chamberlain, and he is 14/5 to do so.
However, I do think O’Leary is the man to be on here, with Chamberlain’s long layoff possibly counting against him and the vociferous Dublin crowd also helping the local man.
The victory over Hughes was a real coming-out performance for O’Leary and the 26-year-old is fancied to build on that here.
It won’t be easy for him, with Chamberlain bringing good experience and durability to the table, but the non-stop pressure and power of O’Leary can keep the underdog on the back foot for large portions of this contest.
It’s 5/4 for O’Leary to win by decision and, in what should be a very entertaining fight to watch, I fancy it will be the Irishman whose hand is raised at the end of a hard-fought 12 rounds.
Royston to rally on undercard
Another man who had a coming-out performance last time is Royston Barney-Smith, who steps up in class to face Reece Bellotti on the undercard in Dublin.
There is an awful lot to like about Barney-Smith, whose electric speed and reflexes allow him to carry his hands low and whip in hard shots from all sorts of angles.
He has every shot in the book and showed that in a really impressive victory over Conor McIntosh in April, as Barney-Smith (16-0, 8 KOs) showed off his eye-catching repertoire to knock his opponent down three times en route to a second-round stoppage in that British and Commonwealth super featherweight title fight.
Trained by the astute Ben Davidson, Barney-Smith could be one of the hottest prospects in British boxing at just 22 years old, and his latest test is the experienced Bellotti (20-7, 15 KOs) this weekend.
Bellotti has seen it all at this sort of level and enjoyed an Indian summer when putting together a six-fight unbeaten run between 2022 and 2025 that saw him win and defend the aforementioned British and Commonwealth straps.
He lost those titles when stopped by Ryan Garner in the final round of their clash a year ago, then he was beaten on points by Josh Padley last October, and a long, hard career could be catching up with the 35-year-old a little now.
Bellotti will need to be at his very best against the promising Barney-Smith and if the former is on the slide a little now, then he could be in serious trouble here.
Barney-Smith is just 2/11 to claim win number 17 (Bellotti 5/1) and it’s hard to argue with those odds, as the favourite really looked to be gaining his ‘man strength’ with that devastating performance last time out.
As a result, I am leaning towards Barney-Smith making another real statement with a stoppage at 6/4, rather than taking the 5/4 about him winning by decision.
The speed difference could be the key factor and, with his slick footwork allowing Barney-Smith to unleash rapid counters, he can walk the aggressive Bellotti on to something big to have the underdog reeling.
If he has Bellotti hurt, I don’t expect the smart Barney-Smith to let his man off the hook.
Posted at 08:10 BST on 31/07/26
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