The sports books have posted several more lines for boxing this weekend. Of special interest is the heavyweight battle scheduled to take place in Poland on Friday between Mariusz Wach (30-1) and Konstantin Airich (21-10-2). Heading into this one, Wach is a massive (-8200) favorite over Airich, who is returning at (+2600). The bout is scheduled for 10 rounds, however there is no over/under posted yet.
Wach is looking to get himself back into title contention. His lone career loss saw him take world champion Wladimir Klitschko the full, 12-round distance back in November of 2012. The loss was followed by almost two years of inactivity, but he came back in October and won three straight fights. Airich is there to make it four in a row for Wach, as the German fighter is 2-6 in his last eight fights as he been fighting guys who are aiming at the top of the weight class. In his last outing back in September of 2014, Airich lasted into the third round with up and coming Olympic Gold Medalist Anthony Joshua of England. At nearly 6 ft. 8 in., 35 years old and with good mobility for a big man, Wach is looking to make an impact at heavyweight in the next few years.
On Saturday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam and David Lemieux fight for the vacant IBF World Middleweight title. Though the main event of the card, the line only rrecently went up. The Dierry Jean vs Jerry Belmontes fight on this same card has been at the sports books for a while.
In the main event, Lemieux comes in as a (-190) favorite over N’Jikam, who is coming back at (+165). Lemieux is the popular hometown fighter who owns a fine (33-2) record with 31 knock outs, and he is making his first attempt at a world championship.
N’Jikam owned a piece of the WBO World Middleweight belt (interim), and the slick-handed Frenchman’s only loss came to Peter Quillin when he was gong for the full fledged WBO World Title. Since that loss in October of 2010, he has run off four wins in a row and he has been fighting away from France, where he spent most of the early part of his career, perhaps adding the experience he needs to pull of a win in what will certainly be hostile territory at the Bell Centre.
