Michael Hunter vs Cassius Chaney Preview June 7th, 2024
Michael Hunter of Van Nuys, California returns to the ring this Friday, June 7th to take on Cassius Chaney of Baltimore, Maryland. The 12-round heavyweight tilt will be held in Hollywood, Florida and may or may not be for the Interim WBA Heavyweight Title as nobody’s quite sure yet. Hunter last fought in March when he stopped Ignacio Esparza in the fifth round. Chaney’s last fight took place in November when he halted Trevor Bryan in the seventh round. The fight can be seen on Triller pay-per-view on the undercard of the Adrien Broner bs Blair Cobbs battle.
Hunter vs Chaney Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Cassius Chaney +200
- Michael Hunter -260
My Pick
The 35-year-old Hunter, who fights out of Las Vegas, climbs through the ropes with a record of 22-1-2 with 16 Ko’s. He’s boxed 144 rounds since making his pro debut in 2013 after a fine amateur career. Hunter is the son of former pro heavyweight Mike ‘The Bounty Hunter’ Hunter. Michael fought at the Olympic Games in London in 2012 where he lost to current light heavyweight titleholder Artur Beterbiev.
He also fought at the 2007 World Championships in Chicago where he beat Andy Ruiz Jr. on his way to the quarterfinals. Hunter was a 2007 US National Champion in the Super Heavyweight division and also was the US Olympic Trials Gold medalist the same year. In 2008 he was an Olympic Trials silver and bronze medalist and beat Oscar Rivas on the way and also fought at the World Cup in Russian but failed to qualify for the Olympics in 2008.
Hunter was the US National Super Heavyweight Champ in 2009 and US National Golden Gloves Heavyweight Champion in 2011. He was the 2012 US National Heavyweight Champion while competing at the Olympics. As a pro, Hunter has captured the WBO NABO Cruiserweight Title as well as the IBO Inter-Continental, WBA Inter-Continental, and WBA International Heavyweight Belts.
Hunter’s lone pro defeat came at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk by way of unanimous decision in 2017 in a shot at the WBO Cruiserweight Title. His biggest wins have been against Jason Douglas, Isiah Thomas, Iago Kiladze, Alexander Ustinov, Fabio Maldonado, Martin Bakole and Sergey Kuzmin while his draws came against Alexander Povetkin over 12 rounds in 2019 and Jerry Forrest over 10 rounds in 2021. Hunter stands 6-feet-2-inches with a wingspan of 79.5 inches and has good power in his artillery as 72.7 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage including his last four.
The 36-year-old Chaney has also lost just one pro fight as he climbs through the ropes with a fine mark of 23-1 with 16 Ko’s and has boxed 87 rounds since making his pro debut in 2015. He had a pretty good amateur career too as he won the 2014 US National PAL Final, reached the quarterfinals of the 2014 National Golden Gloves, reached the semifinals of the 2014 USA National Championships and won the 2012 New England Golden Gloves.
Chaney carries around pretty good power as well as 69.6 per cent of his victories have been by stoppage including 10 of his past 11. His lone defeat came at the hands of George Arias by 10-round split decision in December 2021. He beat Nick Jones by third-round KO in 2019 for the vacant WBC USA Silver Heavyweight Title and also has wins over Chauncy Welliver, Jason Bergman and Shawndell Terrell Winters. He measures 6-feet-6-inches tall with an unlisted reach so has a four-inch edge in height on Hunter.
Prediction…
Age isn’t really on either of these heavyweight’s side as their both in the mid-30’s but as Zhelei Zhang has proven, it doesn’t really matter as long as you have power and both of these guys do. Hunter and Chaney have improved over the years following good amateur careers and are solid boxers who never really hit the big time. This is an even matchup and a close call but I’ll give the edge to Hunter as he’s taken on better opposition over the years.
The greater experience lies with Hunter.
Play Hunter -260 @ BetOnline.ag
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Cassius Chaney betting • Michael Hunter betting