I think Haskins wins on points, in what I think will be much, much tighter on the scorecards than their first outing. I could see Hall using his size and reach advantages to try and walk through Haskins, bully him and outwork him; while Haskins, opting to stay at mid range, looking to counter Hall with quality shots, and seeking to befuddle Hall with crisp footwork, unorthodox angles and switch-hitting. Since their first fight, both fighters have improved, but I think Hall has improved considerably more than Haskins; I can see this fight going the distance, with the improvements Hall has made very much in evidence on the scorecards. This is likely to culminate into a 115-113 / 115-114 type of fight in favour of Haskins, with a lot of close rounds -- I won't find it at all surprising to hear a verdict of a Draw, a Majority Decision or a Split Decision being announced when all is said and done. On this occasion, I think the deciding factors of Haskins' extra quality and variety / unorthodoxy could prove to be enough to see him win -- if only just.
I would make Lee Haskins a slight favourite but can also see it being a close fight, with many 'pick em' rounds. I was thinking there is some value in the 3/1 being offered on Stuart Hall. For the last 2 years or so Hall has been living away from his family and training with Max McCracken in Birmingham, getting regular quality sparing against the Yafai brothers. Looking back over the last 2/3 years, Hall performed surprising well against the talented but smaller Paul Butler, which was far from being a Butler masterclass as many had predicated. The fight finished in a split decision 117-111, 115-113, 113-115. To be fair he looked pretty decent in the Guerrero and Malinga victories and although lost a clear majority decision against Caballero in Monaco, again actually performed better than many people had expected.
I had Stuey as the narrow winner of that fight. That said, I think Haskins will pot shot his way to a win in this fight, possibly get a late stoppage - he has decent one-shot power and Hall isn't going to get any faster or more durable with age.
If Haskins gets drawn into a fight then Hall probably wins. If Haskins boxes sensibly he should win on points. Good fight this- I'm sad that it's stuck on a the undercard of a PPV and not as a main event in Bristol/Newcastle.
