Sean McComb vs Arnold Barboza Jr. Preview April 20th, 2024
Unbeaten Arnold Barboza Jr of Long Beach, California takes on Sean McComb of Belfast, Northern Ireland in a 10-round super lightweight tilt this Saturday, April 20th. The fight from Brooklyn, New York can be seen live on the undercard of the Devin Haney vs Ryan Garcia fight in most nations on DAZN pay-per-view. Barboza last boxed in January when he stopped Xolisani Ndongeni in the eighth round. Barboza edged former world champion Jose Pedraza by a 10-round unanimous decision to defend the WBO Inter-Continental Super Lightweight Belt in his previous bout 11 months earlier after winning the vacant title with a 10-round unanimous decision over Danieleto Zorrilla. Meanwhile, McComb beat Sam Maxwell by 10-round unanimous decision in his last outing in December to defend his WBO European Super Lightweight Title.
**Watch live on DAZN this Saturday. Your first month is free.
McComb vs Barboza Jr. Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Sean McComb +550
- Arnold Barboza Jr. -900
My Pick
The 32-year-old Barboza climbs into the ring with a perfect mark of 29-0 with 11 Ko’s. He’s boxed 178 rounds since making his pro debut in 2013 following a brief amateur career. He measures 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 72-inch and when it comes to power, Barboza is below average with a current knockout ratio of just 37.9 per cent and has gone the distance in five of his last six fights after stopping four of his previous five opponents.
Since turning pro after a short amateur career, Barboza has also won the vacant WBO International and NABF Jr Super Lightweight Titles. He’s beaten Mike Alvarado, Tony Luis, William Silva and Antonio Moran along the way but is probably best known for his slugfest against Alex Saucedo in October, 2020 when he was dropped in the seventh round but came back to win a 10-round unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO International Super Lightweight Belt.
As for McComb, the 31-year-old southpaw has 126 rounds of experience under his belt since making his pro debut in 2018 following a lengthy amateur career and makes the ring walk with a record of 18-1 with 5 Ko’s. He won a bronze medal at the 2015 European Games as an amateur and won several domestic tournaments. McComb measures just under 6-feet-tall with an unlisted reach and is 2.5-inches taller than Barboza.
As far as power goes, he doesn’t possess much of it as just 27.8 per cent of his wins have come by stoppage and his last eight victories have gone the distance. His lone pro defeat came at the hands of Gavin Gwynne when he was stopped in the seventh round in 2021 in a shot at the vacant Commonwealth Lightweight title. He won the vacant WBO European Super Lightweight Belt in December, 2022 with a 10-round unanimous decision over Zsolt Osadan and also defended it against Kaisee Benjamin. This will be just the second time McComb has fought outside of the UK and in America.
Prediction…
Both boxers are solid pros but a lot more has probably been expected of Barboza Jr as many experts believed he would be a world champion by now. That’s still a possibility but he’s 32 years old and hasn’t taken on any legitimate top-1o contenders. This is decent matchup but neither boxer has displayed much in the way of power lately even though Barboza did stop his last opponent and McComb dropped his latest foe three times in a decision win. This should start out as a relatively close affair but I’ll give Barboza the edge here and a stoppage win would boost his confidence and marketability.
Barboza is a class above McComb.
Play Barboza Jr -2000 @ BetOnline.ag
Check out my recent boxing betting picks to see my current form.
Arnold Barboza Jr betting • Xolisani Ndongeni betting
Arnold Barboza Jr betting • Sean McComb betting