Anthony Crolla v Jorge Linares II: Your essential betting preview

This time six months ago, Anthony Crolla was heading into the ring as the odds-on favourite to beat Venezuelan star Jorges Linares in Manchester. He lost by unanimous decision, but a rematch (arranged straight after the last bout) this weekend gives him the chance to exact revenge.

This time it’s Linares who’s favourite to win at 1/2, and as far as Crolla (7/4) is concerned, the underdog tag suits him just fine.

But where has the money gone so far?

Ladbrokes News takes a look at the most popular bets from punters so far…

As far as the outright winner betting goes, it looks as though plenty are betting with their hearts over their heads. A sizeable 43 per cent of all bets taken have been on a Crolla win, while the remaining 57 per cent of people are torn between another Linares victory or a draw – an outcome ‘Million Dolla’ has experienced on three previous occasions.

As for method of victory, 64 per cent of all stakes have been on a KO, TKO or Disqualification win for either boxer, while the majority of punters are backing Crolla to win by that method at 9/2, something he’s done on just 13 occasions in his previous 39 bouts.

Interestingly, the most-backed round for this fight to be over in is the ninth – with people leaning towards (you guessed it) Crolla at 33/1.

And although it’s the most likely outcome with our traders, not one person has got on the 13/8 for Linares to win on points – just as he did the last time these two met.

Elsewhere, not a single penny has been staked on either boxer losing this fight within 60 seconds, while the most popular group of rounds is 9-12. People have clearly taken our boxing traders word for it, getting on the 9/4 for Linares to win within that band.

The Venezuelan went 12 rounds for the first time in his career last time he faced Crolla, showing us a side of his game we’ve never seen before.

And with that in mind, we’re not fancying much change from their first bout – even down to the final judgement. At 5/2 our top bet is Linares to win by Majority Decision once again in Manchester.

Click here for a full list of Jorges Linares v Anthony Crolla odds.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing