my thoughts on the fight and difference between mosts perception of fight and odds from a general thread that got merged. 'wilder ko 1-3, and striverne to win seem like good complimentary bets.' 'thinking the bookies never got it wrong is a good way to **** yourself betting.' 'this is obviously generally true' (bookies balance money by adjusting odds), 'but bookies are more open to taking a direction than i used to think(from interviews with them). I think there is a certain amount of caution to be excersized in jumping on stiverne because of the scott fight (and because he is not all that good either).'
I heavily lean towards Stiverne by knockout. If Wilder wins, it will be the biggest upset the heavyweight division has seen in a while, at least in my eyes.
Exactly this ^ only a couple of hundred turned out for today's weigh in. Which is a bad sign for the Wilder hype machine. People are not buying into him. As for a prediction I like Stiverne by second round knock out.
On a side note I had the pleasure to chat with Ray Mercer recently and he said he would take out "that guy who has ko'd everyone so far" "he has chicken legs" "I would pressure him and he wouldn't see the 5th round" 6'7" 219 that is awfully thin he better hope to catch Stiverne with a bomb.
Wilder is basic...but I think basic will land on Stiverne. But with that said I pick Stiverne KO8 in a fun fight. Both guys go down.
I think stiverne is going to be sacrificed to the more marketable fighter Wilder by stoppage and the real hype will start
I was about to place a bet for a Wilder KO before the 4th but Teddy Atlas picked him so that ruined it for me. Stiverne showed he could take a punch from Areola and could go the 12 pretty strong and he can certainly bang but Areola has been dominated before but not sparked but this and Austin are about as deep as B.STIV has done but still a far better resume than Wilder. I think Wilder has to be the biggest build-up but with the avoidance of tough fights since ****ey (but ****ey at least fought a washed up Lyle,Norton,Young) and others. ****ey at least went 8 rounds, Wilder has not gone past 4 after watching some legit KO's by Wilder leading up to the Malik Scott fight and replays, either Wilder hits very hard with his slap hand or Scott did someone a favor. I think the people that have carefully guided Wilder to a 32-0 record know something about his weaknesses and now he is going to be in against a guy that can go a decent 12 rounds, can punch and take a punch, so it looks like a BSTIV KO, but I dont know the big money is in a Vlad fight so the powers that be may be pulling for Wilder I am still not overly impressed with Stiverne but he is a major test for the untested 4 round fighter Wilder. I would go against the grain and pick Wilder's power here but I have never heard Teddy pick a winner so I may keep my money in my pocket and get entertained with no stake in the game. Wilder has power though especially for a 219lb bird-leg bean-pole
http://deadspin.com/why-tonights-heavyweight-title-fight-shouldnt-be-on-the-1680135638 Interesting take on the possibility of a fix. I don't buy it but it's well written and takes a realistic view on the chance that the fight may be in the bag.