Michael Dasmariñas turned up at Los Angeles Airport a couple of days ago looking like a normal guy.
He had two hands, walked straight, wasn’t acting like a weirdo either and didn’t look as though he had spent a few weeks in the Covid-19 Intensive Care Unit of a Manila hospital before being allowed to board a flight to the United States.
But oddsmakers think Dasmariñas is a dead man walking given the poor prognosis of him upsetting Naoya Inoue, the Japanese knockout king who is among the top punchers in the world regardless of weight.
Inoue, dubbed as “Monster” in international boxing, makes a mandatory defense of the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation bantamweight crowns against Dasmariñas on 19 June at the Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas.
Latest odds show that all Inoue has to do to win is show up and Dasmariñas is sure to pass out.
Odds tilt in favor of Inoue, who is a -1900 favorite ($1900 wins $100) and Dasmariñas is so taken for granted that he is a +1200 underdog ($100 wins $1200).
The decision to put Inoue on a pedestal is understandable. He is unbeaten in 20 fights with 17 knockouts and is famed for his one-punch power.
Dasmariñas’ record isn’t bad at all: 30-2-1 with 20 knockouts.
But it lacks recognizable names and instead littered with a bunch of guys whose names were taken off a phone directory.
Dasmariñas, however, is not intimidated.
“He’s got two hands and I have two as well,” Dasmariñas, a southpaw, told this paper just before flying out of Manila.
The thing is, oddsmakers think that Inoue’s hands are packed with dynamite while Dasmariñas’ is just loaded with just firecrackers.
But boxing is so unpredictable that many of the sporting world’s greatest upsets took place on top of the ring.
Mike Tyson was a 42-1 favorite against Buster Douglas in 1990 and “Iron Mike” capitulated in ten rounds.
Muhammad Ali was a 7-1 underdog against Sonny Liston in 1964 and “The Greatest” beat him black and blue.
On the local front, many Filipino fighters ascended into the throne after scoring huge upsets.
The most famous include Rolando Pascua against Humberto Gonzalez in Los Angeles in 1990, Morris East against Akinobu Hiranaka in Tokyo 1993, Frank Cedeno against Charlie Magri in London 1983 and Rolando Navarrete against Cornelius Boza-Edwards in Viareggio, Italy, in 1981.
Manny Pacquiao also was the underdog against Chatchai Sasakul in 1998 in Bangkok and against Marco Antonio Barrera in 2003 in San Antonio.
Last time the odds looked like the one put on Dasmariñas was in 2019 when Juan Miguel Elorde challenged Emmanuel Navarrete of Mexico. The grandson of “The Flash” was +1000.
And, yes, Elorde didn’t have any chance and got stopped easily.
