Masayuki Ito vs Jamel Herring Preview May 25th
WBO Jr. Lightweight Champion Masayuki Ito of Japan will be defending his crown against former 2012 American Olympian and U.S. Marine Jamel Herring in Kissimmee, Florida this Saturday, May 25th. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the USA on ESPN and ESPN Deportes while fans in the UK can catch it on BoxNation. Those in Canada can check it out live on TSN 5. Herring last fought in December when he beat Adeilson Dos Santos by an eight-round unanimous decision. Ito was last in the ring in December as well when he stopped Evgeny Chuprakov in the seventh round.
Ito vs Herring Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Masayuki Ito +162
- Jamel Herring -200
My Pick
Ito is a 28-year-old who hails from Tokyo. He won the vacant WBO title with a unanimous decision over Christopher Diaz last July and then defended it against Chuprakov five months later. He enters the bout with a mark of 25-1-1 with 13 kos. He turned pro in 2009 as a teenager and has boxed 177 rounds since. He stands just over 5-feet-8-inches tall with a reach of 70.5 inches. He gives up 1.5 inches in height to Herring with basically the same reach.
Ito’s lone draw was a four-round affair with Tsuyoshi Tameda in 2011 with his only defeat coming at the hands of Rikki Naito by 10-round majority decision for the Japanese Super Featherweight Title in 2015. since turning pro he’s also won the vacant WBC World Youth Lightweight Crown as well as the vacant OPBF, and WBO Asia Pacific Super Featherweight Belts. He’s not really a big hitter either with a current knockout ratio of 48 per cent.
The 33-year-old Herring of Coram, New York is a southpaw who enters the ring with a fine record of 19-2 with 10 Kos. He stands 5-feet-10-inches tall and has a reach of 70 inches. Herring turned pro back in 2012 at the age of 27 and has 114 rounds of experience under his belt since then. He served two tours of duty in Iraq with the Marines and has average power with a current knockout ratio of 48 per cent. He boxed for the Americans at the 2012 Olympics in London, England, but was beaten in the first round of bouts.
Herring’s first pro loss came at the hands of Denis Shafikov by 10th-round TKO in July of 2016. He then lost two bouts later to Ladarius Miller via an eight-round unanimous decision in August of 2017. Herring has been stopped once and dropped before, but has a pretty sturdy chin. He won the vacant USBA Super Featherweight Crown in September of last year with a 10-round unanimous decision over John Vincent Moralde. His biggest wins have been over Hector Velazquez, Luis Eduardo Florez and Art Hovhannisyan.
Prediction…
Both Herring and Ito have speed and skill as well as pretty good chins. This should be a fan-friendly and close fight and I’ll give the slight edge to the champion Ito of Japan.
I’ll go with the champion Ito even though he’s the underdog.
Play: Ito +162 @ BetOnline.ag
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Jamel Herring betting • Masayuki Ito betting