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The Betting Ring – Quigg brings the fire but King Kong won’t let him off Scott free

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Irish fight fans will be flocking to Manchester on May 2nd for the superfight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano which was announced this week but Jono ‘King Kong’ Carroll travels to the same city this weekend to take on Scott Quigg in what could be a super fight in its own right in terms of all out action.

Scott Quigg [35(26)-2-2] comes into the fight as betting favourite at best price 4/6 with BetVictor while Jono Carroll [17(3)-1] is 6/4 best price with Betfred. The 50:50 nature of the fight is a dream for a perspective punter and if you have a strong fancy for either fighter there are enticing prices on offer for any angles you’d like to explore.

The heavier handed Quigg is understandably slightly favoured in the betting due to his depth of experience with 10 fights at world level against Dubliner Carroll who came up just short in his solitary World title challenge against Tevin Farmer after an heroic effort a one year ago.

Despite the gulf in top level experience there are plenty of reasons for Carroll fans to feel their man has the edge this weekend.

“Feather fists”, as Quigg has christened him in the build, has been campaigning consistently at the Super Featherweight since turning pro while Quigg’s best work undoubtedly came at Super Bantamweight and has fought just once at Saturday’s 130 pound limit. Inactivity too must be a concern Quigg’s camp who comes into the fight after a year and a half lay off after a couple of career threatening bicep injuries.

Add in another switch-up of trainer from Freddy Roach back to his former coach Joe Gallagher and you can definitely make a case for Quigg coming into the fight unprepared for an all action high-volume operator like Carroll. Quigg admitted in an interview with fight promoter Matchroom that he is only with training with Gallagher because of visa challenges which prevented him from getting into the US to join up with Roach.

On the other hand Carroll seems to be coming into the fight in flying form and has relished the mind games all week in the build-up. He looks fresh and happy with his preparation and looked the physically stronger man at the weigh-in on Friday.

The concern for Carroll in this fight is that his record suggests he has virtually no chance of stopping Quigg with just three career KOs from 17 wins vs. Quigg’s 26 KOs from 35 wins. Quigg’s durability was famously tested in his fight against Carl Frampton where he famously fought on for over eight rounds with a broken jaw.

Although Quigg is clearly the puncher of the two it has to be acknowledged that almost all of Quigg’s KOs came at lower weights – he has fought just once at Super Feather since his loss to Oscar Valdez in March 2018. Whether Quigg, who relies heavily on a tight defence and sharp counter-punching, has carried that power up to Super Featherweight is still up for debate.

Despite his apparent lack of power Carroll has absolutely no questions to answer in terms of his character and stomach for battle. His fast paced in your face approach contrasting with Quigg’s back-foot counterpunching should make for an absorbing contest and intriguing clash of styles.

With all that considered, I fancy Quigg to shade this one and a couple of bets I like the look of are the Double Chance bet on offer for Quigg to win between rounds 7-12 or points at even money with Skybet. My thoughts are that a ring rusty and notoriously slow starting Quigg will not get a stranglehold on the fight until the later rounds so I struggle to see a strong chance of an early knockout for Quigg who is 4/6 to win the fight outright. The most likely Method of Victory outcome for me is a points win for Quigg at 9/4 which may be of interest if you are after something priced a little bigger. There are also tempting offers of 9/2 for Quigg to win by unanimous decision with Ladbrokes is more than generous.

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