Hopkins steps into underdog role again

Bernard Hopkins is a 43-year-old boxer who loves being regarded as an underdog and has gained a reputation for pulling off upset victories.

Hopkins, who will take on Joe Calzaghe in a light heavyweight bout Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, is 48-4-1 with 32 knockouts and is coming off back-to-back victories over favorites Ronald “Winky” Wright and Antonio Tarver.

Hopkins, a former undisputed middleweight champion who made a division-record 20 successful title defenses, has not been a pre-fight consensus favorite since he faced Jermain Taylor for the first time on July 15, 2005.

So Hopkins should be comfortable in his role against Calzaghe, whom Las Vegas oddsmakers have made an overwhelming favorite.

Bodoglife has Calzaghe at -250 and Hopkins at +190, and Sportsbetting.com has Calzaghe at -260 and Hopkins at +200.

Calzaghe, 36, is 44-0 with 32 knockouts and has been the World Boxing Organization super-middleweight champion for more than 10 years.

But Calzaghe is also moving up in weight and making a rare appearance outside of Europe.

The over/under round total is 11 1/2 with the over at -350 and under at +250.

Golf

Although Trevor Immelman won the Masters last week, he’s not listed among the top favorites for the U.S. Open, which will be played in June at Torrey Pines.

Immelman is listed at 33-1 by Bodoglife.com and is a bigger longshot than Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els, Jim Fuyrk and Padraig Harrington.

Tiger Woods, who this week had his second operation in five years on his left knee, is the favorite at 5-4, followed by Phil Mickelson at 10-1.

“With the Grand Slam no longer a possibility this season, it will be interesting to see if bettors will continue to back Tiger as the season progresses,” said Richard Gardner, Bodog sportsbook manager. “We are expecting to see more action than ever on Tiger at the U.S. Open because of his surprising Masters result.”

Odds on how many majors Woods would win in 2008 were updated after the Masters. Here are the new numbers: zero majors (5-2), one major (3-2), two majors (5-2) and three majors (7-1).

Pro Basketball

In updated MVP odds posted by Las Vegas oddsmakers, the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant has opened a huge edge over New Orleans point guard Chris Paul.

A week ago, Bryant was listed by most books at 1-2. He’s now listed at 1-5 at Bodoglife.com. Paul, who was listed at even a week ago, is now 3-1.

Other sportsbooks such as Sportsbetting.com and Sportsbook.com have pulled the wager.

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lonnie.white@latimes.com