Jamel Herring vs Lamont Roach Jr Odds & Picks

• Herring vs Roach Jr goes Saturday, November 9th at 10:00 pm EST
• Can Herring make the first successful defense of his championship?
• Can Roach Jr win gold and preserve his unbeaten record?

Herring vs Roach Jr will run opposite of another Boxing card expected to draw several eyeballs. This night of prizefighting goes at Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California. Janibek Alimkhanuly and Albert Onolunose will vie for gold but there are even higher stakes for Herring and Roach Jr.

The WBO world super featherweight title is up for grabs. Herring won the world title in his last outing and defends against the WBO International and NABO champion. Peep the odds for this bout and my analysis of the fight below.

Herring vs Roach Jr Odds

Odds taken Nov. 06

Herring has the benefit of Terence Crawford also being in camp ahead of this one. He really benefits from the iron sharpens iron approach by working with a pound for pound ranked phenom. Herring has been able to find a level of consistency in his career.

He went through a 1-2 stretch between 2016-2017 but a drop-down in weight altered his fortunes. Since moving to 130 lbs, Herring went 4-0 including his last fight which was his title-winning effort over Masayuki Ito. This is an intriguing, competitive fight on paper. But It’s one where I see Herring emerging with his hand raised once the dust settles.

Herring Retains the Hardware

The closest that Roach Jr has come to losing is a draw that he had in April 2018. Since then he won three straight and is now poised to contend for a world title. Herring is experiencing a rare moment of being seen as the favorite by the oddsmakers. Despite being seen by some as the likely fighter to emerge victoriously, Herring is still maintaining that same mindset from when he had a chip on his shoulder. Despite being on the heels of his career-best performance, it seems like Herring is already looking to top that.

"The underdog status comes from everything I've been through … just in life, as a whole." – @JamelHerring

New role as a defending world champion, but the mindset hasn't changed.#HerringRoach | SATURDAY | ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/0y4J9EAjry

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) November 6, 2019

The two have an obvious level of respect for one another heading into this. While the two aren’t engaging in trash talk, there is a bit of prior history between the two. Herring declined to break down the specifics but when the two sparred one another years ago, Herring definitely felt he got the upper hand. Herring is not putting much stock in that though and is preparing with dogged determination for this title fight.

One metric worth noting is the age gap between the two. The 24-year-old Roach Jr will take on a titlist who is ten years his senior. Conventional wisdom says the younger fighter generally wins but Herring is at the age where he has the perfect confluence of physical aptitude and the ring IQ of a seasoned pugilist.

Herring vs Roach Jr Tale of the Tape

Herring has a reach and height advantage coupled with the fact that he’s also a southpaw. I think all of these factors will create a lot of headaches for Roach Jr throughout the bout. Another metric that I think will inform the outcome is the respective knockout rates of each. Herring is a bit above 50 percent and Roach Jr has a sub-40 percent KO rate. To that point, I see Herring getting the victory via unanimous decision to make his first successful title defense and hand Roach Jr his first career loss.

Pick: Herring (-265)