Khalid Yafai vs David Carmona Preview May 26th
England’s unbeaten Khalid Yafai will be defending his WBA Jr. Bantamweight Title this Saturday, May 26th at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California when he takes on David Carmona of Mexico. The 12-round bout can be seen live in the U.S. on ESPN+ while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports. Yafai was last in the ring in October when he beat Sho Ishida by a unanimous decision. Carmona’s last contest took place in March when he stopped Jesus Iribe in the fourth round.
Yafai vs Carmona Betting Odds
Here are the winner odds from online sportsbook 5dimes.eu
- David Carmona +1300
- Khalid Yafai -3000
My Pick
The 28-year-old Yafai hails from Birmingham and enters the ring with a perfect record of 23-0 with 14 Kos. He won the title in December, 2016 by beating Luis Concepcion by unanimous decision in Manchester. Concepcion came in over weight so the title was on the line for Yafai only. He then defended it against Suguru Muranaka and Ishida by unanimous decisions. Yafai was a fine amateur who fought for his homeland at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China and captured a silver medal as a flyweight at the European Amateur Boxing Championships in Moscow in 2010.
Yafai stands 5-feet-4-inches tall, but has an unlisted reach. He’s not the most powerful junior bantamweight out there with a current knockout ratio of 61 per cent, but his power needs to be respected and shouldn’t be underestimated. He turned pro in 2012 and has 117 rounds under his belt since. Other than his world title fights, Yafai hasn’t really faced too many tough opponents, but has also beaten the likes of Jason Cunningham and Dixon Flores. Yafai’s a workmanlike boxer who isn’t really the most exciting gut to watch, but he always gets the job done.
Carmona is just 27 years old and enters the bout with a record of 21-5-5 along with 9 Kos. He was on a three-fight losing streak before beating Iribe in March, but the losses came at the hands of some fine boxers in Daniel Lozano, Carlos Cuadras and Naoya Inoue. Lozano stopped him in tow rounds, but he went the distance against Cuadras and Inoue only to drop a pair of unanimous decisions. He’s also been beaten by Omar Narvaez in December, 2013 and Fernando Curiel in November 2010, with Narvaez stopping him in seven rounds.
Carmona doesn’t have much in the way of power with hos stoppage of Iribe in March being just his second KO in his past 14 fights. He enters this fight with a knockout ratio of just 29 per cent. Carmona stands 5-feet-4-inches tall with a 66-inch reach which means he’s the same height as Yafai. The challenger turned pro in 2009 and has boxed 194 rounds since. Carmona is a former WBO youth champion, WBO Latino Super Flyweight champ and won the vacant WBC Latino Bantamweight Title against Iribe in March. His chin may be questionable and he’ll be depending on an effective left hook against Yafai.
Prediction…
Carmona has arguably faced tougher opponents than Yafai and that experience could help him. However, he’s always fallen short when stepping up in class. He doesn’t really have the power to stop Yafai,will be hoping to outbox the champions. This could be a tougher test then Yafai realizes and he’ll need to be at his best to retain his title.
Carmona has a habit of falling short when stepping up in class.
Play Yafai -3000@ 5dimes.eu
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David Carmona betting • Khalid Yafai betting