Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Undercard Schedule, Online Odds and Picks

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao is the main attraction for sports fans Saturday night, but the boxing gods have put together a full card of fights that figures to provide the appropriate lead-up to the sport's biggest bout. 

Undercards in boxing are often a mixed bag, as some fights tend not to get finalized until days before an event. The good news is Mayweather vs. Pacquiao has allowed boxing to roll out the red carpet for a loaded show that features six total bouts before the main attraction, including two on the pay-per-view telecast. 

It's going to be a historic night of fighting in Las Vegas. Given all the eyeballs on the main event, someone else should step up and show that he can be a star in the sport for a long time to come. 

Here's the undercard for the Mayweather-Pacquiao event, with the first bouts starting at 6 p.m. ET and the pay-per-view portion starting at 9 p.m. ET, as well as odds and predictions for the bouts. 

Weight Class	Bout	Rounds	Odds	Prediction
Super Bantamweight (126 lbs)	Leo Santa Cruz (29-0-1, 17 KOs) vs. Jose Cayetano (17-3, 8 KOs)	10	Santa Cruz (-10,000), Cayetano (+1600)	Santz Cruz via 6th-Round TKO
Featherweight (126 lbs)	Vasyl Lomachenko (3-1, 1 KO) vs. Gamalier Rodriguez (25-2-3, 17 KOs)	12	Lomachenko (-3333), Rodriguez (+1200)	Lomachenko via Unanimous Decision
Middleweight (154 lbs)	Chris Pearson (11-0, 9 KOs) vs. Said El Harrak (12-2, 7 KOs)	10	Pearson (-2000), El Harrak (+800)	Pearson via Unanimous Decision
Super Middleweight (168 lbs)	Jesse Hart (16-0, 13 KOs) vs. Mike Jimenez (17-0, 11 KOs)	10	Hart (-1000), Jimenez (+550)	Hart via 8th-Round TKO
Cruiserweight (200 lbs)	Andrew Tabiti (9-0, 9 KOs) vs. Anthony Caputo Smith (15-4, 10 KOs)	8	Tabiti (-3333), Smith (+1200)	Tabiti via 7th-Round TKO
Super Middleweight (154 lbs)	Brad Solomon (24-0, 9 KOs) vs. Adrian Rene Granados (13-3, 9 KOs)	10	Solomon (-1500), Granados (+700)	Solomon via Split Decision

Note: The top two bouts listed are on pay-per-view card.

Fighter to Watch: Leo Santa Cruz

John Locher/Associated Press

Leo Santa Cruz has the most accomplished resume on paper of any fighter on the Mayweather-Pacquiao undercard. The 26-year-old has won 29 of his 30 career fights (one draw) and holds the WBC World Super Bantamweight Championship. 

On Saturday, Santa Cruz is moving up to 126 pounds for a bout with Jose Cayetano. He struggled to get an opponent for the card but is starting to challenge himself physically. 

The problem for Santa Cruz is who he's fighting, which has been a running theme throughout his career. He certainly understands the stage he will be on, telling Miguel Maravilla of FightNews.com: “This is a big opportunity. I am very excited for this fight. This event and card is the biggest in history. Millions of people will be watching me, so I will leave everything in the ring.” 

Yet Cayetano isn't the kind of opponent that Santa Cruz needs to be going against at this point in his career, though the jump in weight could be a positive, as noted by ESPN's Dan Rafael:

"

Santa Cruz said he wants to fight fellow Mexican Abner Mares (29-1-1, 15 KOs), a former three-division titleholder. That is an attractive fight and one that would be easy to make because they are both with manager Al Haymon.

It is a fight many expect to be made this year now that Haymon is regularly matching his fighters on his "Premier Boxing Champions" series -- although Mares-Santa Cruz would also make a lot of sense on Showtime, which has put so much time and money into both boxers.

"

Unfortunately, as Rafael also pointed out, Santa Cruz left the 122-pound division, at least for now, "without having faced a serious opponent and having avoided unified champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, who has been calling him out, as well as titleholders Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg, who have also expressed interest in facing him."

Santa Cruz hasn't reached the point where he's challenging himself with his choice of opponent. Anytime you are getting minus-10,000 odds at Odds Shark, something is wrong. Not all of this is on him, as Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the Nevada Boxing Commission rejected two other opponents. 

If Santa Cruz uses the Cayetano fight to get acclimated to a new weight and then tests himself afterward, it could be worth it. Yet if he keeps going after cookie-cutter opponents to protect his undefeated record, he will remain as an undercard guy on pay-per-view cards or main eventing low-level events on Showtime. 

Fight to Watch: Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Gamalier Rodriguez 

Kin Cheung/Associated Press

This is a slight cheat since there are only two fights on the pay-per-view undercard and I just criticized Leo Santa Cruz for who he is fighting, but that doesn't mean the anticipation for Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Gamalier Rodriguez is unwarranted. 

Lomachenko doesn't have an extensive professional resume with four career fights (three wins), but the 27-year-old has friends in the right places. 

Here's what Bob Arum told Rafael in April about Lomachenko:

"

I'm his biggest fan and I was from the beginning. I thought this guy was amazing and it's an honor to promote him. I want the fans on May 2 to see a typical Lomachenko display of all of his talents, his smarts, his body punching. He's an extraordinary talent and this is a good platform to exhibit that talent before the biggest possible audience.

"

Even though professional boxing is getting its first taste of Lomachenko, he's been an amateur superstar with gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics in two different weight classes (featherweight and lightweight). 

The oddsmakers see something in Lomachenko after four fights, making him a prohibitive favorite, as noted by Ryan Songalia of Ring Magazine:

Rodriguez is the known quantity in this fight, boasting 25 wins in 30 bouts and riding a 17-fight winning streak. The 28-year-old also has a physical edge with a 69" reach, compared to 65" for Lomachenko, per BoxRec, so he can keep a longer distance while still using his hands to make the young opponent work hard. 

Lomachenko's lack of professional experience also gives Rodriguez an advantage to work with. He's not going to outstrike the Ukrainian star, but he can frustrate Lomachenko into making a mistake as the fight moves along. 

There's still a learning curve for Lomachenko to go through before he takes the next step as a professional. The best evidence of that came in his second career bout against Orlando Salido in March 2014, via Rafael: "Lomachenko began patiently before he began to let his combinations go in the third round. But the more-physical Salido made it rough, repeatedly hitting him on the hip when they were in a clinch."

Lomachenko won his next two fights, both going the distance, so he clearly wasn't fazed by the loss and has become a better fighter. He needs to be more aggressive out of the gate to prevent Rodriguez from using his size and reach advantage to knock the budding star off his game plan.