What are the odds on Joey Barton beating I'm A Celeb's Mark Wright in a fight? Derek McGovern's Bets of the Day

By Derek McGovern in Betting Blog

Published 22:00 15/11/11

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Carlos Tevez is an example of what can happen when a footballer is owned by a third party.

Manchester City have been damaged by it and Mario Balotelli wants to know why he wasn’t invited to it.

Tevez is still AWON (absent without neck) in Argentina – even with our lax border controls he can’t get back in the UK.

PFA boss Gordon Taylor says a reconciliation is becoming more impossible by the day, but doesn’t make it clear if he means between Tevez and City or Tevez and neck.

It's been claimed the former West Ham and Manchester United gargoyle has a note from an Argentinian doctor declaring he is unfit to travel but fine to warm up.

You can get 9-4 with Ladbrokes for Tevez ever to play for City again.

If you ask nicely you may also get medical help.

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You see Freddie Starr these days and wonder just how many calories there are in the average hamster.

WhenStarr first burst onto the comedy scene on the Royal Variety Show in 1970, he influenced hundreds of wannabe comedians. These days, he is more likely to influence the tide.

Until his departure on Tuesday night, he'd influenced the I'm A Celebrity betting and looked to be the only contender capable of keeping TOWIE heart-throb Mark Wright from the crown.

But with Freddie (down from 14-1 to 7-1 before his exit) leaving the jungle to spend more time with his hamster, Wright looks a cinch for top spot, even though there are two new campmates to battle with following the introduction of Sinitta and radio DJ Pat Sharp.

From an opening 4-1, Wright has shortened to 2-1 after ridiculously kind editing, which is something this column could do with. Even at those odds, he looks banker-bet material.

Wright is set for another rumble when he returns from the jungle, this time against QPR star Joey Barton.

The two have exchanged insults on Twitter and now boxing promoter Eddie Hearn wants the two twits to exchange blows, with proceeds going to charity.

That's a result for charity but a result for the rest of us only if both are knocked out.

Wright wants the fight to go ahead in a ring; Barton outside a McDonald's.

Barton said Wright and the rest of the TOWIE cast would "turn up at the opening of an envelope." He said this after meeting them at the launch party of a video game.

Ladbrokes make Wright, an amateur boxer, the 1-5 favourite with Barton a hugely backable, and equally smackable, 10-3.

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I wish I’d paid more attention to science at school.

The only thing I learned from five years in the chemistry lab was to never to lick the spoon.

I bring this up because Hills are betting on the Royal Society Winton Prize, awarded on Thursday to the best science book of the year.

The Winton makes the Booker Prize seem exciting. If science was such an important subject, surely it would be understood by people other than geeks.

The sum of my scientific knowledge is this – H20 is the chemical symbol for water and the symbol for ice is H20-Cubed.

Then again, there soon will be no ice if we listen to scientists.

One boffin last week claimed the global warming outlook is much worse than predicted – and that’s bad news when they originally said it would destroy the planet.

A fancied contender is Massive: The Missing Particle That Sparked The Greatest Hunt In Science, a 5-1 chance. “Massive” refers to the title, not the odds.

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BET OF THE DAY

In adversity, the only person who sticks closer to you than a friend is a creditor.

Get on Co Stompe at 10-11 to beat Martin Phillips in the darts on Wednesday.

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