Hand-to-hand combat has been a part of human history since history itself began being recorded, with images of fighters engaged in fisticuffs found carved on stones from the Sumerian age. Boxing as a sport was added to the Olympic Games in 688 B.C.
The sport has evolved over millennia to become a favourite of bettors since the ancient Greeks started wagering drachma on their favourite brawlers.
Wagering on boxing is much like betting on other one-on-one sports, like UFC for example. There are options to not only bet on the winner of the fight, but how they’ll win and how long it’ll take them to win, for example. Let’s have a look at some of the more popular options for boxing bettors.
Moneyline Bets for Boxing
Pretty simple to make a wager on this, you just have to pick a winner. Here’s an example.
As with most moneyline odds, you can tell who the favorite is by that minus sign (-) you see beside Canelo Alvarez’ name. Conversely, you know who oddsmakers have selected as the fight underdog since you can see the plus symbol (+) beside Gennadiy Golovkin’s name.
If you believe that Alvarez is indeed going to win this fight, your $100 wager on him will earn you $122.61– your original $100 is returned along with your winnings of $22.61 – not a huge payout, but he is quite a big favourite. Let’s say you want to place the same amount of money on this fight’s clear underdog. A $100 bet on the +269 underdog Golovkin, has the potential to win you $369.00 including your original wager amount – a much better payout if the underdog pulls off the win.
Total Rounds Betting on Boxing
Another popular betting option for boxing fans is the total rounds bet. As the name suggests, this is a bet on how long the fight will last, or how many rounds it will end up going.
Commonly for the usual 12-round fight, sportsbooks will set the line total at 9.5 – which gives you the option to to bet on whether you think the fight will go longer than nine rounds – this doesn’t mean that you’re making a wager on who’s going to win – you’re simply betting on how many rounds the fight might go.
Golovkin vs. Alvarez
OVER 9.5 rounds
UNDER 9.5 rounds
If you think the fight will finish within 9.5 rounds, you should bet the UNDER. If you think the fight will see more than 9.5 rounds, you’ll want to bet the OVER.
Boxing Prop Betting
Prop bets are fun options provided by sportsbooks to give bettors more to wager on than just the winner and the total rounds. A very popular prop bet in boxing is method of victory – or how exactly you think the fight will end. Using our example from above, instead of just wagering on Alvarez to win, you could bet on him to win by KO, which would like something like this:
Canelo Alvarez by KO +120
Sportsbooks could also offer prop bets on whether points will be deducted during the fight, and for the major marquee fights, props can even be offered on things like fighter behaviour during the weigh-in, etc.
Parlay Betting on Boxing
Parlay betting lets you bet on the outcome of two or more fights on a card. The difference between a parlay bet and a straight-up moneyline bet is that, with a parlay, all the boxers you pick to win MUST win for you to win your parlay.
