Gennady Golovkin a Solid Betting Favorite to Beat Canelo Alvarez

GGG winning by a knockout is among the most popular bets.

The real super fight of the year will take place this Saturday night when undefeated middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin (37-0) puts his title belts on the line against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (49-1-1) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The 35-year-old Golovkin is listed as a -145 betting favorite (wager $145 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com with the 27-year-old Alvarez a +115 underdog (bet $100 to win $115).

Besides the age difference, Canelo does not seem to have much working in his favor as he moves up from light middleweight to challenge Golovkin, who is slightly bigger and has dominated arguably better competition lately heading into this blockbuster matchup.

In addition, GGG has scored 33 knockouts among his 37 wins, although he is coming off a unanimous decision victory against Daniel Jacobs in his last fight on March 18.

Canelo is riding a seven-bout winning streak since suffering the lone loss of his career to Floyd Mayweather nearly four years ago to the day in Vegas. He has earned four wins by knockout over that stretch while also taking a split decision versus Erislandy Lara and two UD victories against Miguel Cotto and most recently Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in his last fight on May 6.

Chavez was beaten soundly by Canelo over 12 rounds even though he had a significant size advantage over his fellow Mexican fighter.

GGG-Canelo Alvarez Predictions: Who You Got?

Much like the Mayweather-Conor McGregor bout three weeks ago, bettors will have plenty of other wagering options on Golovkin-Alvarez. Golovkin by KO, TKO or DQ is the favored method of victory outcome at +160 followed closely by Alvarez by Decision or Technical Decision at +190.

The thinking there obviously is that either GGG will add another knockout, or Alvarez will take him the distance and steal a decision.

That said, there looks to be tremendous value on GGG to win by Decision or Technical Decision at +275. The same can be said about Alvarez by KO, TKO or DQ at +550, although that does seem to be the most unlikely scenario. The odds of a Draw or Technical Draw might also appeal to those looking for a longshot at odds of +1600.