Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Melvin Lopez Prediction and Picks August 12

Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Melvin Lopez Betting Preview

Emmanuel Rodriguez and Melvin Lopez head to Maryland to box for the vacant IBF bantamweight championship on Saturday as WagerTalk boxing handicapper Kevin Dolan gives his Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Melvin Lopez prediction and picks with the main event set for 11:15pm ET.

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Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Melvin Lopez Betting Odds

Saturday, August 12	Boxing Betting Notes (Courtesy of Caesars)
Moneyline:	Emmanuel Rodriguez -500 vs Melvin Lopez +380
Rounds:	TBD
Fight Time:	Main Event Starts at 11:15pm ET / 8:00pm PT
Arena:	MGM National Harbor Hotel & Casino in Oxon Hill, MD
TV:	Showtime

Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Melvin Lopez Betting Analysis

The picture at bantamweight heats up this weekend as former IBF title holder Emmanuel Rodriguez looks to get back the belt he lost by dispatching tough Nicaraguan fighter Melvin Lopez on Saturday over in Oxen Hill, Maryland.

The fight, which will headline Showtime’s card, sees Rodriguez go into this one as the prohibitive -700 favorite, with Lopez coming back at a +450.

Emmanuel Rodriguez avenged a no-contest decision in his last fight against the highly talented Gary Antonio Russell, knocking down and hurting Russell multiple times in that bout before a clash of heads in the 10th round, coincidentally the issue in their first fight also, brought a premature end to the contest in Rodriguez’s favor.

Melvin Lopez meanwhile comes off eight straight victories, seven of which came by stoppage, after getting dropped and stopped by a relentless Jose Velasquez in the ninth round of their fight back in 2019.

Running Into The Monster

With a wide points decision victory against current top ten bantamweight Paul Butler over in England back in May of 2018, the world looked to be at Manny Rodriguez’s feet at just 25 years of age with an IBF world title strapped around his waist.

He took that momentum into signing up for a thrilling World Boxing Super Series tournament featuring the best fighters in the bantamweight division, with Rodriguez backing himself to come out on top, overcoming a tough challenge from current WBO champion Jason Moloney in the opening quarter-final pairings.

However, that’s as good as it got for Emmanuel Rodriguez as he ran into an absolute buzzsaw in Naoya ‘The Monster’ Inoue in the semi-finals of that tournament, a bout that ended in a complete two-round destruction of Rodriguez which cemented the Japanese fighter as one of the best fighters on the planet.

However, with Inoue since becoming undisputed and moving up to super-bantamweight, the door is now open once again for Manny Rodriguez to reclaim those lost world titles and get back to the summit of the sport.

Huge Step Up For Lopez

After his impressive eight-fight win streak since getting stopped by Jose Velasquez back in 2019, Melvin Lopez has definitely put himself on notice in the division, ranking highly with both the IBF and WBO in terms of locking in a world title opportunity in the bantamweight division.

That arrives for the young Nicaraguan fighter this weekend against experienced campaigner Emmanuel Rodriguez, an experience gap so vast in fact that the underdog might well struggle to breach it given the quality of his resume so far.

Lopez’s record is paper thin up to this point, with the only notable name on his professional record coming against the aforementioned Jose Velasquez, a tough Chilean puncher who stopped him, and one a few notches below Emmanuel Rodriguez’s level even at that.

Whether Melvin Lopez can rise to the occasion or not remains to be seen but this will be by far his toughest test to date against an experienced former champion in Rodriguez.

Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Melvin Lopez Expert Prediction

Don’t be too concerned by the recent 2-2-1 record of Emmanuel Rodriguez heading into this fight.

The Puerto Rican fighter simply had the wrong game plan going into the Naoya Inoue fight, and was subsequently made to pay for it.

That said, up to that point, Inoue had largely been a front-foot heavy fighter and it was unknown if forced to fight on the back foot how he would look, so Rodriguez opted for a shock and awe style in that fight, putting Inoue on the defensive from the opening bell with an ultra-offensive style.

As it turned out, Inoue is as comfortable on his back foot as he is on his front, managing to walk Rodriguez onto some absolutely massive counters as the Puerto Rican fighter marched forward, ending the show in the second round.

However, the game plan nonetheless showed Rodriguez can mix up his style in fights and think outside the box, owning the ability to both box off the back foot and go on the offensive at will, something that will be of great benefit to him as he looks to become top dog in the 118lb division.

Following that knockout loss to Inoue, Rodriguez suffered a points decision loss against Filipino fighter Reymart Gaballo also, a fight he clearly won and one of the worst decisions of 2020 overall, with those two losses remaining Rodriguez’s only ones over the course of his career so far.

That’s a far cry from Melvin Lopez who while only losing once over his career, was getting absolutely lit up by a much smaller Jose Velasquez in their fight, with the Chilean fighter landing flush with heavy uppercuts and hooks at will.

That will likely only get worse for Lopez given Rodriguez’s speed, power and precision in fights, and it’s difficult to envision Melvin Lopez reaching the final bell on Saturday.

There are no odds listed at the time of writing for the method of victory prop on this fight, but we’re expecting Emmanuel Rodriguez to close the show against Melvin Lopez on Saturday and get the stoppage over on Showtime this weekend.

Play: Emmanuel Rodriguez by KO/TKO


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