In a short-notice change of plans, NABO welterweight champion Alexis Rocha will defend his belt against a new opponent in George Ashie. Ashie (33-5-1, 25 KOs) is a decorated African boxing fighter out of Ghana who has made a great career for himself. Rocha (21-1, 13 KOs) is ready for anybody they put in front of him this weekend.
Read along for an in-depth look at this matchup.
Keep scrolling for the Rocha vs. Ashie best bets leading up to this weekend’s event.
Rocha vs. Ashie Information
Alexis Rocha vs George Ashie
Location of the fight: YouTube Theater. Inglewood, CA.
Date: January 28th, 2023.
How to Watch: DAZN
Last Fight Records
Rocha is coming off three wins in 2022; two by unanimous decision and one KO against Blair Cobbs in March.
Ashie has a 5-fight KO streak, and his last was in March of 2022 when he viciously KO’d Robert Quaye in the 8th round of their title fight.
Alexis Rocha vs. George Ashie Analysis
This is an interesting matchup that was made early in the fight week. Alexis Rocha’s original opponent backed out of the fight due to an injury suffered in sparring. Ashie is getting a massive chance to beat a very talented young champion with a bright future.
Rocha is a rising Mexican star with all the great parts of his skillset that the greats had before him. He is tough, durable, and has power in his hands. As he starts growing into his body and maturing in age, he will become a very dangerous fight for anybody.
Ashie is mainly known in the African circuit of amateur and professional boxing. He is currently holding the IBF Continental Africa super lightweight title. Also, he is moving up in weight class to meet Rocha while trying to play a major spoiler this weekend.
The venue will surely be full with a pro-Rocha crowd. This will give Ashie a tough atmosphere to fight in, but that can play into this whole trip well for the African champion. The oddsmakers clearly have Rocha being able to use this fight as a stepping stone for bigger fights in the future.
Power to Be World Champions
Golden Boy Promotions is known for finding young fighters with the star power to be world champions and massive draws in the future. De La Hoya and his team must know the potential of Rocha. They are giving him an event to headline in California at the age of 25.
If the underdog can come into the United States and put together a massive upset performance, this could be a massive opportunity for a big fight as Ashie’s career comes to an end.
The statistics are important to look at here. If you are starting to bet on boxing, tonight are the number of knockouts Rocha has and the number of times Ashie has been finished in his career the numbers that are important.
Go look that up as we start breaking down the betting lines of this bout. This will be a big factor in figuring out the Rocha vs. Ashie best bets this weekend.
Odds Breakdown
Alexis Rocha
The 25-year-old rising star is the massive betting favorite this weekend, with his moneyline odds set at -3000. These odds are ridiculous to look at betting on because of the favorite’s value. In my opinion, a fistfight should never have these kinds of odds.
George Ashie
Ashie is strolling into this short-notice fight as the +1300 underdog.
What an interesting position he put himself into: He doesn’t have anything to lose and gets to be paid for taking this fight and having the courage to travel across the globe.
The key betting line to look at before betting on boxing this weekend is: this fight is going the distance at +200.
Alexis Rocha vs. George Ashie Betting Pick and Prediction
Boxing predictions sometimes seem easy to make, especially when there are crazy odds like what we have in this matchup. You wouldn’t need to be a boxing expert to guess that Rocha is supposed to win this fight.
And to be brutally honest, there might be a 0% chance that Ashie can win this fight on the scorecards. That’s just how boxing is, unfortunately. We know that Alexis Rocha is having this event made around him. He will be trying to sell a PPV for probably the first time in his career. This night is about him and his coming out party.
With all signs leading to Rocha this weekend, there is a betting line that you need to jump on and make one of the Rocha vs Ashie best bets hit.
This fight has a very high chance of going to a decision. Yes, the ref will probably be looking at any chance he has to stop the fight if Ashie is getting hit, but if Ashie can prove that he is ready to go all 12 rounds, it is possible this hits.
Take this fight going the distance at +200. Those are massive odds for someone with only 13 KOs in 21 wins and with him going up against a seasoned veteran fighter that has never been finished.
To kind of hedge your bets this weekend, assuming you plan on making two bets for this fight, you should go with Rocha winning inside the distance for the best value or just take his moneyline to add a lock into your parlay.
Pick 1: This fight going the distance +200
Pick 2: Rocha wins by TKO/KO -260
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