Boxing Betting

Although it is nowhere near as popular as it was 50 or 100 years ago, boxing still has millions of fans from around the world. As with horse racing and baseball, the rise of other sports has led to a decline in viewership for the sport known as the sweet science, but there aren’t a lot of events more exciting than a title fight. If you’ve ever experienced Las Vegas when a champion like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez, or Gennady Golovkin is fighting later in the evening, the excitement is palpable.

Betting on Boxing Matches

There aren’t as many ways to bet on boxing as you will find with other sports. Due to its nature, you won’t find futures or a lot of props available. Instead, you are simply betting on the outcome of the fight.

The most prevalent way to bet on boxing is by wagering on the winner of the match. This is as easy as it sounds, as you are simply betting on which fighter will win the fight. If you want to add another factor, you can typically wager on whether a boxer will win by decision or knockout for major title fights.

It’s also possible to bet on how long a fight will last. There is an over/under for how many rounds each fight will take to determine a winner, and you will see it lower among knockout specialists or with presumably one-sided bouts.

Some sportsbooks will offer a combination of these two wagers for major fights. For example, you might be able to wager on Canelo Alvarez to beat his opponent by knockout in the fifth round. Calling your shot in that way will pay off much more than simply betting Canelo to win.

Boxing History

The first great boxer was Jack Johnson. Johnson was the heavyweight champion from 1908 to 1915, and while his “official” record was 72-11-11, he fought hundreds of fights. He took part in an early “Fight of the Century”, and his subsequent 15-round victory over James Jeffries was a national story for weeks.

Joe Louis was the next great heavyweight. The Brown Bomber took part in 27 title fights, and he was the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949. Louis won the title against James J. Braddock and subsequently beat Tommy Farr before scoring a first-round knockout of Max Schmeling that made him a national hero in 1938.

Although he is not considered one of the best of the best, Rocky Marciano is the only boxer to emerge unscathed in the prestigious heavyweight division. Marciano went 49-0 with 43 knockouts in his history as a professional fighter, holding the heavyweight belt from 1952 to 1956.

Many boxing historians consider Sugar Ray Robinson to be the greatest boxer of all-time. Robinson was the first non-heavyweight to become a household name as he won welterweight and middleweight belts while amassing an absurd 173 wins in 200 fights over the span of 25 years. He was 127-1-2 at one point in his career, but he took a lot more losses and draws over his last decade in the ring.

The great Muhammad Ali is the most famous boxer of all-time. His legacy is still strong years after his death, and he is still revered by fans of the sport. Ali was ranked the greatest athlete of the 20^th Century by Sports Illustrated, and he was rated the best heavyweight fighter of all-time by multiple analysts. His three fights against Joe Frazier were some of the biggest spectacles in sports history.

Oscar De La Hoya became the first fighter to win titles in six divisions, as boxing expanded to add more belts later in the 20^th Century. De La Hoya won those titles between the super featherweight and middleweight divisions over the span of a decade.

The best boxer in recent memory is Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather amassed a 50-0 record over the course of his career, and he is widely considered to be the greatest defensive boxer of all-time. He won belts in five weight classes during his time in the ring, and he did not take anything close to the same punishment that most other boxers do as fighters. Mayweather beat De La Hoya, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto, Canelo Alvarez, and Manny Pacquiao in his career.