BKFC 14 Odds and Picks – Alers vs Palomino

• BKFC 14 goes down Friday, November 13th, 2020 at 8 PM EST
• Who will hoist world titles overhead when a pair of bare-knuckle championship bouts transpire?
• Check out the fight odds, analysis, and predictions below
  

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InterContinental Miami in Miami, Florida is the location for BKFC 14. The broadcast will go live on the BKTV app.

Four unbeaten BKFC fighters toe the line once again as two world championship fights will be going down on Friday night.

Jim Alers and Luis Palomino will be fighting for bare-knuckle boxing hardware at 155 pounds. In the co-main event, Dat Nguyen and Reggie Barnett will be throwing down for the interim 135-pound strap.

BKFC 14 Odds

Odds taken Nov. 11

Alers and Palomino were initially supposed to fight in the summer but, Alers had to bow out after a precautionary COVID-19 related measure.

Jim Alers’ Path to BKFC Gold

Jims Alers and Luis Palomino will knuckle up in what has been quite the long-awaited showdown.

In addition to BKFC hardware, the vaunted Police Gazette diamond belt will be on the line in the main event prizefight. The Police Gazette belt is a championship with close to 150 years of history that underpins it.

Jim Alers enters this bout on the heels of his high octane decision win over Kaleb Harris at BKFC 10.

When I spoke with Jim Alers ahead of this fight, he gave a lot of insight into why this bout goes far beyond just a combative competition.

There’s a fair bit of bad blood here with both men having to be physically restrained from one another in press conferences leading into this one. Both are chomping at the bit to toe the line and knuckle up.

Luis Palomino’s First BKFC Title Defense

Luis Palomino is an MMA veteran who has fought names like Justin Gaethje, Pat Curran, and Yves Edwards to name a few.

He is spotless through his bare-knuckle boxing run so far, which has seen him put together a pair of wins in a pandemic year.

Palomino most recently fought late-replacement Isaac Vallie-Flagg in July and finished the well-traveled veteran in less than one minute of BKFC’s inaugural 155-pound title bout.

Alers has a pronounced six-inch reach advantage heading into this fight and has double the experience with the bare-knuckle boxing promotion.

Palomino has 16 stoppages across 26 MMA wins and is presumably riding high after the emphatic nature of his last bout.

BKFC 14 Main Event Tale of the Tape

In the end, I think that Jim Alers will improve to 5-0 in BKFC and hand Luis Palomino his first bare-knuckle boxing loss.

Pick: Jim Alers (-140)

Reggie Barnett vs Dat Nguyen

Dat Nguyen stepped into the bare-knuckle boxing ring with quite the resume in gloved combat. Nguyen posted up a 20-3 boxing record before crossing over to BKFC where he now has a 2-0 record.

His last outing was a highlight reel performance from the opening bell against Abdiel Velazquez that saw Nguyen score the knockout less than two minutes into the opening frame at BKFC 10.

The winner of this bout propels themselves towards a future clash with BKFC 135 pound king Johnny Bedford who was supposed to be in this fight but had to drop out due to injury.

If Barnett gets the job done against Nguyen, this would present to him a rematch against Bedford.

Fighters who have even losing MMA records generally succeed more in the BKFC ruleset than accomplished, world champion caliber boxers that same the transition.

With Barnett’s MMA experience coupled with his notable experience edge in the BKFC ring, I have to give this one to him.

Ultimately, I see Reggie Barnett earning the nod on the judges’ scorecard and punching his ticket towards the BKFC belt as well as that Bedford sequel.

Pick:  Reggie Barnett (-180)