I'm not saying that you should bet your house on it, but Jeremy Bates has a great shot at downing Evander Holyfield in their Dallas boxing match tonight. People are infatuated with the Holyfield legend, and this creates an irrational perception that Holyfield has a huge advantage in this fight. As a result, Holyfield's a 15-1 favorite, and bettors can get odds as good as 10-1 on the underdog Bates.

Ever since I watched HBO's terrific series on the 10 greates fights of all time, I've been in tune to boxers' speech patterns as indicators of permanent brain damage. During the episode on the Riddick Bowe - Holyfield trilogy, commentators discussed the downfall of Bowe as irreparable injuries to his brain hindered his reflexes. Being a nanosecond off makes a huge difference in boxing, and Bowe's skills drastically declined after his grueling matches with Holyfield in the mid-1990s. By 1996, Bowe was a shell of himself his fights against Andrew Golota, who would have easily defeated Bowe if not for being disqualified for multiple below-the-belt blows. After those matches, Bowe's loved ones convinced him to give up boxing so that he wouldn't worsen the damage to his head.

On the HBO special, experts discussed how a boxer's speech patterns can indicate whether he's suffering brain damage. A slight, intoxicated-like slur could be heard when Bowe talked in the latter stages of his career, but this slur wasn't present in earlier footage of the boxer. Holyfield has similar speech problems, and I identified this after watching him lose to Chris Byrd in 2002. So, in 2003, I placed a big bet on James Toney (a 2-1 underdog) to beat Holyfield. Sure enough, Holyfield couldn't dodge Toney's vicious hooks. By the 9th round, Holyfield's corner realized that the man was too stubborn (or brain damaged?) to quit, so they threw in the towel for him. Considering that Toney's a blown-up middleweight who doesn't have the quickest arm speed in the world, the final result indicated that Holyfield should never step into the ring again.

When I was watching Holyfield being interviewed on a Rangers telecast earlier this week, I noticed that he still slurs his words, indicating that the brain damage hasn't healed. Tonight, Holyfield will stubbornly stand in the middle of the ring, trying to trade blows with his below-average competitor. But Bates has a healthy brain, as evidenced by his success in the sales world after he briefly retired from boxing. If this fight goes past 5 rounds, expect Bates to pummel Holyfield, whose reflexes are too slow to dodge a professional boxer's punches.

I can't believe that Holyfield's friends and family are letting him fight in his condition, but bettors should take advantage of it. You don't often get 10-1 odds on a fight where there's a good chance that the underdog prevails. I'm only betting $10, but it wouldn't be a mistake to go higher if you've got the money.