Boxing, which was perhaps the most popular betting sport, has slowed down recently but has maintained its moral authority at the bookmakers. Some people enjoy the simplicity of two men competing "mano a mano," without a scoreboard, timeouts, or substitutes. Although the betting odds first could appear challenging to comprehend, betting on fights is straightforward.
Boxing and gambling have long been associated, sometimes even a little too intimately. Boxing wagering was more common than NFL wagering in the early 1970s. Nevertheless, claims of fight manipulation and appalling judge judgments drove many spectators away from the sport's betting component. However, boxing has generally done a fair job of attempting to restore public faith in the objectivity of the sport.
Boxing and gambling have been entwined for more than a century. However, following a decline in popularity, boxing betting is seeing a revival as a result of super-fights, which have attracted both ardent and casual fans from all over the world.
Boxing betting is similar to betting on other one-on-one sports like MMA. Among other things, you can place a bet on who will triumph and how they will triumph. However, those who are more accustomed to wagering on team sports, such as the NFL, will need to adjust to boxing's distinct timetable and make plans for their wagering activities accordingly.
Over the years, betting on boxing has been quite profitable for gamblers. For the bettor seeking to dip their toe into the pugilism betting pool for the first bout, we'll focus on strategies to reduce risk while maximising rewards.
The various options for enjoying wagering on tasty science are listed here. We discuss key elements of boxing betting in this guide, such as scheduling, money line wagers, round wagers, method of victory wagers, parlay wagers, and other special wagers specific to boxing.
FAQs
Yes! Boxing betting has always been a staple of legal sportsbooks, and with the growth in US online betting options, you can expect el boxeo to be a mainstay on those sites. However, not every US bettor has access to domestic online books, so they have to use offshore sites to place their wagers.
Before making any boxing bets online, you have to sign up at a sportsbook first. Then, it will only take two minutes to enter your name, birthdate, email address, and deposit info. Once you make a deposit, you can place your boxing bet. Just pick the fight, the boxer, bet type, and dollar amount.
FanDuel Sportsbook offers boxing fans the best boxing odds for upcoming fights, including bets on which fighter will win, how many rounds the fight will go, and if the outcome of a fight will come by knockout, decision, or stoppage.
In combat sports, round betting is any wager on the exact round a fight will end or the total number of rounds in the bout. There’s no limit to the ways you can bet on any given round in MMA or boxing.
Look Beyond the Moneyline
You can also make other predictions, such as what round they will win the fight in and their winning manner. To make a careful bet on this, you should look through a boxer’s win records to see how they often win and compare it with their opponent’s.
Boxing Betting: Ways To Bet
Boxing betting offers potential sports bettors an alluring wagering opportunity. It has a lovely simplicity to it. You decide who will prevail in a fight between two men. It exudes a sense of purity. Man versus man is at war. Not team versus team. It's simpler to become disabled. You don't need to analyse the full list of players, just two warriors. People were wagering about the sport even before it developed into what it is today. People used to wager on fights, brawls, and scuffles in various forms before there was baseball or football.
- 2-way betting: Similar to a money line wager in the other major sports, wagers on each match can be placed on guessing the winner in a straight-up contest between the favourite and the underdog.
- 3-way betting: Each match has a betting option for selecting a winner or a draw (or tie).
- Method of victory: You might be more precise to lessen your risk if you want a particular boxer to win but suspect that he may be the clear favourite. There are several paths that can lead anywhere. By KO/TKO/Technical Decision/Disqualification, a boxer can win on points (DQ).
- Round betting: You can wager on fights, especially high-profile ones, by selecting the victor of a specific round. Betting on a boxer to defeat his opponent in a specific round might be more profitable than placing wagers on the 2- or 3-way betting line. It is difficult to predict, and occasionally it is wise to wager on multiple rounds to be safe, but it can pay off handsomely.
Fundamentals
Baseball and boxing betting have similar styles. You have two sides, and there is a money line on each side. For instance, the betting odds for the much-hyped Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather fight would be Manny Pacquiao: +135, Mayweather: -110. Prior to a number, the (+) always represents the underdog, and the (-) always represents the favourite.
If you bet $100 on Pacquiao at +135, you will win $135. Mayweather at 110 suggests that $100 in winnings requires a bet of $110. If you win, you get your stake back plus any winnings.
Another example would be the Paul Williams vs. Sergio Martinez fight odds. Martinez was +300, while Williams was 360. Williams needs a $360 wager in order to win $100. In the event that you won, your wager and any profits were returned. If you placed a $100 wager on Martinez, you would stand to win $360 and get your $100 bet back, for a total of $460.
Very few sportsbooks offering odds on the Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson upset from two decades ago would be an extreme example. Douglas was at +42000, and Tyson was at +5000. In other words, if you placed $1,000 on Douglas, you would have won $42,000, while you would have needed to wager $50,000 on Tyson to gain $1,000.
Boxing Moneyline Betting
The winner of a boxing battle typically takes the title. Choosing which fighter will prevail in the battle is known as money line betting.
Sportsbooks use moneyline odds to entice bettors to place wagers on both sides of the betting lines. With the favourite, you'll be putting more money at stake than you might be able to win. In contrast, underdogs offer more payouts compared to the risk.
How to gamble on money lines is as follows:
- Demetrius Andrade -155 (risking $155 to win $100)
- Ryota Murata +130 (risking $100 to win $125)
Because Andrade has a minor advantage in this boxing battle, the possible rewards are smaller than the risk. With a lesser bet, you can win more money betting on the underdog Murata.
In boxing, money line wagers are the most common. These bets are readily available at practically every boxing betting website.
Boxing Futures Betting
Futures are centred on an occurrence that will occur in the future. So, for instance, you might place a bet months beforehand on which baseball club would win the World Series.
The majority of boxing wagers do not involve futures. You might, however, classify any wager made soon after a battle is declared as a future. This is due to the months-long announcement process for big battles.
Here is an illustration of a futures bet:
- Mike Tyson -160
- Lennox Lewis +120
- Announced in September 2021
- The match happened in December 2021
You are placing a wager on a future event if you choose one fighter right away following the press conference. Between the announcement and fight night, a lot may happen. For instance, one of the fighters might get an injury while practising, dissuading early backers.
Over/Under Betting
When you guess how long a fight will last, you are boxing on totals. Your bet is based solely on how long the fight lasts, not who wins. When placing a wager on this option, the boxers will be listed along with the total rounds and a money line for each selection. Here's an illustration:
Seth Mitchell vs. Chris Arreola
- Over 5.5 (+135)
- Under 5.5 (-155)
The total number of rounds in the aforementioned case is 5.5. The "over" is the underdog at +135, giving you a chance to win $135 for every $100 wagered. The "under" is prefered at -155, which means you must gamble $155 for every $100 you want to win. The crucial distinction is that 5.5 does not denote the halfway point of the fifth round. Instead, it dictates that there must be 5.5 completed rounds in order for the fight to be declared "over," which would occur at the 1:30 mark of the sixth round.
Boxing Round Totals
Betting on totals often entails the sum of the scores of two teams. For instance, two basketball teams might have a combined total of 201.5. Thus, you would place a wager on whether the total score will exceed or fall short of this line.
However, total betting operates differently in boxing. It offers an over/under on the anticipated number of rounds in a fight.
Here’s an example:
- Mairis Briedis vs. Lawrence Okolie (scheduled for 12 rounds)
- Over 9.5 rounds -135
- Under 9.5 rounds +110
If you choose the cover, you're betting that the fight will go at least ten rounds. If you bet on the under, you'll be hoping that the fight is over in nine rounds or less.
If you enjoy using a boxing betting strategy, you can look up the background of the two contestants. You should pay close attention to how long, on average, each fighter's clashes last—especially the most recent contests.
Prop Bets
You will have more betting alternatives the bigger the contest. The over/under wager is one prop bet that you can almost always place. You must forecast if the bout will last longer than the predetermined number of rounds. This bet is fairly common in boxing. Sometimes a bettor predicts the length or length of a fight without knowing who will win.
A specific number indicates the over-under. Let's say 4.5. In that case, you must wager on whether the fight will go four and a half rounds or longer. It's astonishing how many people believe that this refers to the middle of the fourth round. The fifth round ends at 1:30, making a total of 4.5 rounds.
You can place a wager on how a fighter will win in bigger contests. Such a line might resemble the following:
- Manny Pacquiao by decision or technical decision: +150
- Manny Pacquiao by DQ, TKO or KO: +200
- Floyd Mayweather by decision or technical decision: +105
- Floyd Mayweather by DQ, TKO or KO: +500
A fight's termination owing to a cut is a technical decision. The fight will go to the scorecards if there is a fight-ending cut after four rounds. Such a cut would result in a no-contest, where all wagers would be returned before four rounds.
Method of Victory
Different strategies can be used to stop a boxing contest. Knockout (KO), technical knockout (TKO), unanimous decision, split decision, draw, or fighter retirement are all potential results.
Some boxing betting sites allow bets on the winning strategy. They don't offer bet possibilities for all possible outcomes, though. They instead concentrate on results like KO/TKO and unanimous vs. split decisions.
An illustration of a MOV wager is shown below:
- Canelo Alvarez by KO/TKO -250
- Caleb Plant by KO/TKO +200
- Canelo Alvarez by split/unanimous decision -275
- Caleb Plant by split/unanimous decision +220
- Draw +1900
Boxing fight draws are uncommon and have high MOV odds. The most likely result, and one with more reasonable chances, is a KO/TKO.
You can use a variety of boxing betting tactics on MOV wagers, just like you do with round totals. Examining each fighter's recent knockout and decision statistics is a solid strategy. Then, by concentrating on the two fighters' most recent 5-7 contests, you may place a more educated wager.
For instance, during his career, Floyd Mayweather engaged in a lot of prolonged combat. He was, therefore, typically a good pick to win by decision.
Boxing Parlays
Putting multiple picks (at least two) on the same wager is known as a parlay. All picks must win in a parlay for it to work. The rewards can be excellent, but excellence is necessary. Let's examine a few instances.
- Floyd Mayweather (-270) vs. Saul Alvarez
- Lucas Matthysse (-255) vs. Danny Garcia
The bettor will typically place a few favourites on a parlay since he doesn't want to risk a lot of money betting on favourites separately. These picks would yield slightly more than $90 in profits from a $100 parlay.
- Carl Froch (+360) vs. Lucian Bute
- Tony Thompson (+500) vs. David Price
The underdog parlay is a potent weapon in a boxer's toolbox. These can be helpful and provide bettors with a knockout punch of their own in a sport that is riddled with upsets. A $100 parlay would pay out a whopping $2660 with these picks.
Boxing Round Betting
Round totals and round betting have similar names. It does, however, differ slightly in that it centres on the precise round of terminating a battle.
Numerous ways boxing betting sites might deliver these bets. The easiest approach is to ask you to predict which boxer will prevail in a specific round.
You must select the fighter and MOV for a specific round in a more involved approach. For example, you might have to predict whether a boxer will prevail via knockout or opponent disqualification.
The easier way is demonstrated by the example below:
- Brian Castano in round one +1600
- Jermell Charlo in round one +1700
- Brian Castano in round two +1800
- Jermell Charlo in round two +1900
- Brian Castano in round three +1900
- Jermell Charlo in round three of +2000
- Brian Castano in round four +2200
- Jermell Charlo in round four +2300
- Brian Castano in round five +2500
- Jermell Charlo in round five +2750
- Brian Castano in round six +3000
- Jermell Charlo in round six +3300
- Brian Castano in round seven +2900
- Jermell Charlo in round seven +3150
- Brian Castano in round eight +3050
- Jermell Charlo in round eight +3200
Even more boxing betting strategy is involved in round bets than in round totals and MOV bets. You can spend a lot of time learning about the rounds that boxers typically win.
Boxing Betting: Key Betting Terms To Know
- Favourite: The fighter with the best chance of winning the fight will need more than your return on investment.
- Underdog: On the other hand, nobody anticipates the warrior to prevail. Since you will receive both your bet and any winnings from your wager, it may be more profitable than selecting the favourite.
- Push or Draw: a gamble that results in a tie, which is neither a winning nor a losing ticket. Your wager is reimbursed.
- Chalk: This alludes to a popular choice. For instance, heavy chalk is defined as -200 and above.
- Parlay: For instance, if you bet on two fighters to win on the 2-way line, you would need to win both ends of the wager to make money. You can still win if one end of a parlay wins while the other pushes.
Boxing betting: How do odds work?
The odds in boxing can vary substantially. Sometimes the favourite isn't very expensive, but other times, especially in undercard or preliminary events, the favourite can have rather high odds. For instance, you would have to spend $80 to make $10 if you bet on a strong favourite at -800. On the other hand, a $10 bet on the underdog at +550 would return $55.