Undefeated Taylor receives slight edge

Having two evenly matched boxers fight for a championship while in their primes does not happen often. But that will be the case this weekend when Jermain Taylor defends his middleweight title against Kelly Pavlik in Atlantic City, N.J., on Saturday.

Taylor (27-0-1) and Pavlik (31-0) are both undefeated and most oddsmakers have made Taylor a slight favorite at -130 with Pavlik at even. Taylor, 29, who defeated Cory Spinks in a split decision in May, is expected to move up in weight class after this fight and has fought more respected opponents.

But Pavlik, 25, who stopped Edison Miranda in seven rounds in his last fight, has supporters who believe he has too much punching power for Taylor.

That’s why the biggest payout for the fight is a prop bet on whether it will go the full 12 rounds. Oddsmakers have it at +110 that either Taylor or Pavlik will be stopped and -140 that the bout will go the distance.

The over/under for total rounds is 11 1/2 with over paying -110 and under -130, according to bodoglife.com,

In other boxing, the early line on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Ricky Hatton fight, scheduled for Dec. 8 in Las Vegas, has Mayweather as a heavy favorite, ranging from -250 to -285. Hatton is at +210 to +225.

College football

To USC Coach Pete Carroll and Louisiana State Coach Les Miles, this may be a little premature but odds have already been set should the Trojans and Tigers meet in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

Even with the January game in the Louisiana Superdome, USC is listed as a tight 1 1/2 -point favorite with the over/under at 49 1/2 points, according to Belmont.com.

The Trojans also hold a small edge over LSU in the future bet on the national championship. After starting the season as a 3-1 favorite, USC has moved to 9-5, followed by LSU at 4-1 and Oklahoma at 5-1.

Florida and West Virginia are next at 6-1. UCLA has gone from 30-1 to 60-1.

Auto racing

The NASCAR race will move to Kansas Speedway for the Lifelock 400 on Sunday and Tony Stewart is listed as a 4-1 favorite, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon at 6-1 according to Sportsbook.com. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is at 18-1.

Although Gordon leads Johnson by two points, he’s still not the favorite to win the Chase for the Cup.

Johnson is listed at +270, followed by Gordon at +284 and Stewart at +354, according to wsex.com.

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