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PEREZ: winning the WBO North American belt was a start. / Photo: Golden Boy Promotions

His opponent, Adrien Broner, is the budding superstar, an explosive puncher with 12 opponents stopped in his last 13 bouts, but Eloy Perez is in a sense a throwback in that he has fought his way to the top the hard way, taking on any fights that were offered. Now Perez has the backing of Golden Boy Promotions although he is still something of an unknown quantity to all but the hard-core fans.
 
Perez knows he is a massive underdog but seems genuinely confident that he will upset the odds in the Feb. 25 junior lightweight fight on HBO.

SALIDO (left) outlasted Lopez / Photo: CHRIS FARINA, Top Rank

Upsets were the norm in 2011 but often only seemed shocking because the sportsbooks now offer such wide odds on boxers who are generally expected to win.
 
Odds of -1000 (10-1 on) once indicated a prohibitive favourite. Now, however, we are seeing boxers listed at -1400, -1800 and higher in fights that have a competitive look to them (such as Lamont Peterson on home ground in DC against Amir Khan).
 

FROCH, WARD: The long journey ends tonight. / Photo: TOM CASINO, Showtime
Ward -220; Froch +180
Over 11.5 -200; under 11.5 +160

The long, hard road comes to an end for 168-pound champions Andre Ward and Carl Froch tonight in Atlantic City, two years after starting their journey in the Showtime network’s innovative Super Six tournament.
 
Ward is the betting favourite but Froch, who looked in fantastic condition at Friday’s weigh-in, exudes confidence and will have his backers.

Viloria +140; Segura -180
Over 11.5 +140; under 11.5 -160

The little fighters just don’t get the respect they deserve. For instance there’s a tremendous fight in Manila today between Brian Viloria, the Hawaiian-born fighter of Filipino ancestry, and Mexico’s Giovani Segura but it has attracted little attention and most sportsbooks aren’t offering odds.
 
I just don’t understand this. The fight is a battle of champions: Viloria defending his flyweight title while Segura, a champion at junior flyweight, moves up four pounds in weight.

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DIAZ (left) and ROBB waged war. / Photo: TOM CASINO, for Showtime

New faces Joel Diaz and Guy Robb provided the most exciting fight of the weekend in the U.S., a sizzling junior lightweight contest that swayed first one way, then the other, before Diaz’s superior punching power prevailed in a seventh-round stoppage victory.
 
Diaz is what the boxing trade calls a “fun” fighter. His bouts are highly entertaining and his hit-or-be-hit style has been compared to that of Brandon Rios, the lightweight champion who has produced some big-punching performances. I can see the similarity.