Boxing betting tips: Preview and best bets for Saturday January 25 card

Boxing betting tips: Saturday DAZN fights

1pt Dalton Smith to win in rounds 1-6 at 8/5 (Coral, Ladbrokes)

1pt Harry Scarff to win by decision at 5/4 (Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

The promising career of DALTON SMITH resumes as he takes on Walid Ouizza for the vacant European super lightweight belt in Nottingham on Saturday night.

Having already picked up the British and Commonwealth straps, this would complete the traditional set for Smith before he moves on to world honours and he is an overwhelming 1/16 favourite to take his record to 17-0 on the DAZN-televised card.

Nobody is giving Ouizza a chance and that is reflected in his odds of 11/1, so it would be a huge shock if the Frenchman came out on top.

There were plenty of people talking about Smith when he turned professional and the way he cruised to his first 15 wins suggested the hype was justified. However, it was his latest performance that really made people sit up and took notice, as the Sheffield man took out Jose Zepeda in the fifth round.

Zepeda was 37-4 at the time, with those losses coming in three world title fights and against a future world champion, so looked to be a real acid test, but Smith had other ideas. After a tight couple of opening rounds, Smith began to find his range and catch the American coming in, before ending the contest with a beautiful body shot. Nobody had done anything like that to Zepeda before and his subsequent two-round stoppage of Ivan Redkach suggests he was far from washed up at the time.

That should have catapulted Smith to world level, but a frustrating 10 months out of the ring followed and he drops back in class for his return this weekend.

Ouizza (19-2) lost a pair of eight-round decisions to weak opposition early in his career, but he is unbeaten in over six years now and earned this title shot by taking the unbeaten records of Alejandro Moya (17-0) and Charlemagne Metonyekpon (13-0) in 2023. That said, closer inspection of their CVs reveal they hadn’t beaten much, and Ouizza made hard work of outpointing Bryan Fanga (11-1-1) over 10 rounds in his only outing of last year.

Ouizza is busy and likes to be on the front foot, as he looks to apply pressure and lets his hands go, but that will be ideal for Smith, a sharp and accurate counterpuncher. We saw how the Yorkshireman used Zepeda’s aggression against him last time and Ouizza could be tailor-made for him. Added to that, Ouizza isn’t the quickest and tends to be a little slow in bringing his hands back when he does throw, which will leave him open to hard counters from the speedy and precise favourite.

It’s hard to argue with the prohibitive odds of 1/3 about Smith registering the 13th stoppage of his career, so the best way to attack this one may be the round group betting markets. There is very little between the prices about Smith winning in the first half or the second half, but I fancy him to shine here and end it in opening first six rounds, which is an 8/5 chance.

Smith can be patient and take his time, but I think the front-foot style of Ouizza can spark him into action early doors, just as we saw when the former took on Zepeda. The visitor isn’t on the same level as Zepeda, either, and the disparity in speed between these two should be evident very early on.

Ouizza has only fought outside of his native France once so far and, with Smith’s army of fans making the short journey from Sheffield to Nottingham in droves, this could be a baptism of fire for the Frenchman.

Smith can get this done before the halfway mark and look very good in doing so.

CLICK HERE to back Smith in rounds 1-6 with Sky Bet

Scarff looks a winter warmer

There is world title action on the bill as Ellie Scotney defends her IBF and WBO super bantamweight straps against Mea Motu.

The latter is unbeaten in 20 outings and will come to fight, but Scotney looks a level above and the likeable Catford fighter can take her record to 10-0 with another points success. She is yet to stop an opponent, which is why it is only 1/3 for her to record another decision victory.

The fight of the night looks sure to be British and Commonwealth welterweight title scrap between HARRY SCARFF and Conah Walker.

With three losses apiece they have very similar records, and both like to get on with things, so this promises to be an all-action affair and the bookies are struggling to split them. Support for Scarff (13-3) this week sees him edging favouritism now at a top price of 5/6, with 5/4 the best you can find about Walker (14-3-1).

After his upset win over Cyrus Pattinson, Walker gave the unbeaten Lewis Crocker a hellacious 10 rounds when dropping a unanimous decision in their Fight of the Year contender last June. He was then expected to stop a faded Lewis Ritson in November, but made harder work of that than he should have done as he picked up a competitive 10-round points win.

Scarff arrives on the back of a loss, but he gave a good account himself in Germany last May when losing on points to Karen Chukhadzhian, who subsequently went the distance with the heavy-handed IBF champion Jaron Ennis for the second time.

Prior to that, Scarff boxed out of his skin to win these belts with a unanimous decision over the heavily favoured Ekow Essuman, who has also franked the form since with two good wins over unbeaten opponents.

Walker knows only one way to fight, which is to use his short, stocky frame to bowl forward and let his heavy hooks go. If he can drag Scarff into a fight, then Walker would have to be the favourite to come out on top.

However, at 6’1”, Scarff has a huge height and reach advantage, so will no doubt look to keep it long and do damage at range – just as he did for long periods against an aggressive Essuman. Walker wasn’t quite busy enough against Ritson for my liking, when waiting too long to let his hands go and he was punished for it, and Scarff won’t need a second invitation if Walker does the same here,

Their combined six losses have all been by decision and this looks like it will go the full 12 rounds, a theory backed up by odds of 2/5 with Sky Bet.

Scarff’s switch-hitting style could also cause problems for Walker and, if he can maintain the distance, the man from Derby can pick up an entertaining decision victory at 5/4.

CLICK HERE to back Scarff by decision with Sky Bet

Posted at 1200 GMT on 24/01/25

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