Boxing Picks

Ben Askren vs Jake Paul Boxing Picks, Odds, Predictions 4/17/21

Ben Askren vs Jake Paul Boxing Picks, Odds, Predictions 4/17/21
2021-04-17 21:15:00 EDT

Jake Paul and Ben Askren fight Saturday in a boxing match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Jake Paul enters this fight with a 2-0 record that includes two knockouts. Paul will fight for the third time since January of 2020, and he is coming off a November win over Nate Robinson. Paul is 24 years old, stands at 6’1” with a 76-inch reach and an orthodox stance. Paul is coming off a second round knockout where he completely slept the former NBA player and looked good for the most part. Paul is a popular Youtuber and Internet personality who appears to be taking the sport of boxing seriously. Paul obviously has a lot of work to do from a technique standpoint, as he has been sloppy at times and kept himself open. Paul can be inaccurate with his shots and look for the knockout a little too much, but so far his style has worked. Paul deserves credit for the pair of wins, especially with the lack of experience, but there’s still work to be done before he starts calling out actual seasoned fighters. With that said, Paul does let his hands go and puts something behind his shots. When Paul lands cleanly, he’s shown he can hurt his opponents, for what it’s worth. For a celebrity, you can certainly do a lot worse than what Paul showed up to this point. This will be Paul’s first career fight in Georgia.

Ben Askren is making his boxing debut after racking up a 19-2 MMA record before retiring from the sport back in 2019. Askren is a 36-year-old who stands at 5’10”, has a 72-inch tech and an orthodox stance. In his MMA career, Askren had six knockouts and six submissions. Askren is one of the most accomplished wrestlers and top control grapplers in the sport, and that includes gold medals in freestyle wrestling and participating in the 2008 Olympics. Askren is quite physical with his takedown attempts and he wears on his opponent with constant grappling. Never considered much of a striker, Askren made his living getting his hands on his opponents and shooting for takedowns early. However, Askren does have knockout victories under his belt and his conditioning is through the roof given his wrestling background. Those two things will help Askren in this fight. This will be Askren’s first career fight in Georgia.

Paul is going to be the favorite given that what he’s done in his last two fights and he probably should win given the reach advantage and the pop in his hands. There’s still work to be done before taking on true boxers, but there’s certainly potential with Paul. With that said, there’s some value with Askren and the plus money, as we’re talking about somebody who was actually a professional fighter for over a decade, and he had freestyle, grappling and college matches before that. Yes, Askren was never a striker at heart, but MMA fighters work everything and he had enough striking to hold his own when needed and to eventually set up his takedowns. It’s not like Askren doesn’t know how to throw a punch. Askren should also have a conditioning edge if this fight goes past the first couple rounds, which could be key to an upset.

The line is probably right, but I’m still leaning toward Askren and the plus money.

Randy Chambers's Free Pick: Ben Askren +130

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Randy Chambers

Randy has covered sports betting since 2014 and writes about everything from NFL to WNBA. Follow Randy Chambers on Twitter.

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