Michael Hunter vs Sergey Kuzmin Odds & Betting Preview

• Hunter vs Kuzmin goes Friday, September 13th at 7:00 pm EST
• Can Kuzmin retain his belt and climb higher in the rankings?
• Can Hunter hoist gold high above his head at the end of the night?

Michael Hunter vs Sergey Kuzmin is a 12 round boxing contest with heavyweight championship glory on the line. The great night of fights emanates from Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden Theatre in New York. Matchroom Boxing is promoting this card and Hunter vs Kuzmin is one of three title fights slated for the evening.

The WBA intercontinental heavyweight title is up for grabs with Kuzmin defending against the WBA international heavyweight titlist. The event will be broadcast live on DAZN. Check out the fight odds and my bout breakdown below.

Hunter vs Kuzmin Odds

*Odds taken 09/10/19

Hunter signing with Matchroom Boxing paints an intriguing picture for the future of the heavyweight division. Matchroom has heavyweight names like Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte, and Filip Hrgovic under their banner. Promotional figurehead Eddie Hearn doesn’t seem keen on pushing Hunter to that level yet but it creates a lot of curiosity for future matchmaking.

There was some dialogue about Hunter stepping up as a late replacement for Joshua but Andy Ruiz Jr ended up taking that spot and the rest is history. With Hunter vs Kuzmin each man is facing their toughest career test, whoever wins will have scored their best career win, and I think Michael Hunter emerges victorious.

Hunter Will Not Become the Hunted

Hunter is a US Olympian who used to compete as a cruiserweight. He has since moved to heavyweight and has been utilizing his speed advantage to make up for the shortcomings in size. Though Kuzmin’s amateur background isn’t as impressive, He still held two medals at the European Championships with well over two hundred fights before turning pro. Kuzmin also has the size advantage as he won amateur titles at super heavyweight, a couple of weight classes above where his opponent once competed.

ICYMI: 2012 US Olympian Michael Hunter opened tonight's #PBConFS1 show with multiple knockdowns en route to a TKO4. pic.twitter.com/DoIuxyHjB3

— PBC (@premierboxing) October 14, 2015

Kuzmin has a slight edge with the knockout rate, sitting at 69-percent while Hunter has a 67-percent KO rate. The two match up well in a lot of regards which is reflected in the relatively close odds set by the oddsmakers. Hunter’s four-inch reach advantage could also lend itself well to more of an evasive, high volume approach whereby he utilizes that aforementioned speed edge.

Hunter vs Kuzmin Tale of the Tape

This is a key fight for both because the winner could start creeping closer towards that mid-tier of the heavyweight class while the loser has to go back to the drawing board. This is a fight that boxing nerds are clamoring for. Both in a divisional significance level and in terms of how the styles will meld together. The pugilistic approaches that both men have would indicate that this is going to be a fight that’s heavy with forward pressure and low on inactivity.

Hunter held the WBO cruiserweight championship, lost it to well regarded Oleksandr Usyk in his next outing, and has since rebounded in a big way from his lone career loss. For many that first loss is an inevitability of the sweet science. To that point, I see Kuzmin taking his first career loss at the hands of Hunter this Friday. I think Hunter scores a stoppage win inside of eight rounds.

Pick: Michael Hunter (-450)