Lara vs Castano Odds Review For Showtime Saturday

The Premier Boxing Champions are back on SHOWTIME this Saturday with a WBA world welterweight title fight between champion Brian Castano (15-0) of Argentina and former champion Erislandy Lara (25-3-2) of Cuba in the main event spot.

Castano won the interim version of the WBA’s 154 pound belt back in November of 2016 when he knocked out Emmanuel DeJesus in the sixth round. Castano has beaten Michel Soro and Cedric Vitu since, with the Vitu win in March of last year giving him the upgrade from interim to regular WBA champion. Lara is not only a former world champion, he comes with an amateur background that saw him amass three hundred fights representing Cuba, so it is safe to say that Lara represents Castano’s most sophisticated opponent to date. Lara is coming off a loss to Jarrett Hurd that saw him lose the WBA’s “Super” world title in a bout in which he appeared undersized. Now 35 years old, the veteran Lara is looking to return back to the world title picture, as the split decision loss to Hurd did not sit well with him.

Another veteran Cuban fighter is in the co-feature as heavyweight Luis Ortiz (30-1) takes on Germany’s Christian Hammer (24-5) in a ten round bout. Ortiz got his shot at Deontay Wilder’s WBC title in March of 2018, taking a loss after coming oh so close to taking Wilder out. Since then Ortiz has gone 2-0 with two KOs and he enters this weekend’s fight a major favorite. He has a spot in the top five of the heavyweight division that would go by the wayside with a loss. Hammer is still just 31 years old and his last two losses have come to Alexander Povetkin and Tyson Fury, so he is battle-tested. Perhaps more importantly, he is 7-1 in his last eight fights with the lone loss seeing him extend Povetkin the full twelve rounds. As a +1000 underdog, some may take a chance that Hammer can catch the aging Ortiz slipping.

The featherweight twelve rounder between once-beaten Bryan De Gracia (24-1-1) and Eduardo Ramirez (21-1-3) is a late replacement for a super featherweight bout between Ramirez and Ricardo Nunez that saw Nunez open a wide -650 favorite. Kudos to De Gracia and Ramirez for signing up for a competitve fight on a short time frame. Ramirez accepted several other replacement names before De Grazia became the official opponent, so anything can happen in this bout.

Below are the lines as they stand at the mid-point of fight week. Check your local listings for start times on SHOWTIME.

Sat 3/2 – Barclays Center – Brooklyn, New York – Showtime

Super Welterweight 12 rounds –

Erislandy Lara                 -155  o9½ -365

Brian Carlos Castano +135  u9½ +275

Heavyweight 10 rounds –

Christian Hammer +1000  o6½ -160

Luis Ortiz           -1500  u6½ +120

Featherweight 12 rounds –

Bryan De Gracia +125  o9½ -350

Eduardo Ramirez  -165  u9½ +250

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