As I prepared my pick for the upcoming Dec. 3 Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor fight, I pulled out the odds for the rematch to study the differences in lines. Here are the lines from their first encounter.

Taylor(L) Hopkins(R)

Hopkins to win -170

Taylor to win +150

Over 11.5 rounds -220

Under 11.5 rounds +180

In contrast here are the current odds as posted by Pinnacle sports for the rematch.

Hopkins to win -108

Taylor to win -102

Over on rounds 10.5: -235

Under on rounds 10.5: -215

I picked Taylor to win and took the over the first time they fought and was rewarded with one of my best picks of the year, albeit controversially. The rematch is offering the tightest odds I have ever seen and this fight is definitely 50/50 in the boxing community as the odds show.

The sportsbooks seem to have done their absolute best to eliminate anything as strong as Taylor at +150 that was offered last time. Not a single underdog play but the tight lines do give a suave gambler a great platform to make some money.

Taylor was a great value and Hopkins was ripe to take his first loss in 12 years due to his victory over Oscar De La Hoya. Hopkins seemed to lollygag through the first five rounds of the Taylor fight as he seemed to lose his edge, maybe due to the huge payday he received when he fought his (now) boss Oscar.

Bernard seems to have regained his scowl but the downfall of the controversial decision has also angered and motivated Taylor to prove it wasn't a fluke. Taylor seems to be prepared and so does Hopkins. This fight is the perfect end to a pretty decent year in boxing. Taylor and Hopkins should improve on their last fight, which was pretty solid despite all the whining about the decision. Don't miss out on Doc's pick for this as we have analyzed this fight from every possible perspective and once again we did not take the easy way out.

I am very interested in how the sportsbooks came up with the numbers on the over and under for the fight. I really feel that boxing has not been this confused and split on a fight since the days of the first Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson fight. Tyson was a favorite but the boxing experts were as split as anyone could imagine.

This is even more intriguing to me because we have already seen these guys battle for 12 rounds with many ups and downs for both men. The undercard is also above average and it features the grudge match between 122 lb. king Oscar Larios and Israel Vazqeuz. Ike Quartey also faces tough veteran Carlos Bojorquez.

The fight will be shown on pay per view and is promoted by Golden Boy Promtions.

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