Kevin Bradley, Bovada’s sports book manager, told Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports that betting on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor fight will likely surpass the Super Bowl:
“We knew this fight would be big, potentially even bigger than the Super Bowl, but now we are almost certain it will be. The recent trash talking and promotional tour is only encouraging bets and at this rate we cannot even imagine how much we will take on it. One thing is for sure though, we will need Mayweather huge. A McGregor early round KO as he promised would be a potential disaster and is partly a reason we are giving a great price on Mayweather at the moment.”
Iole broke down some of the odds being offered for the fight:
“Bovada released a slew of wagering possibilities, but the odds on McGregor have dropped significantly. Mayweather is down to minus-500, while McGregor is now at plus-350.
“Amazingly, on the proposition bet, Will Mayweather be knocked down or out, yes is only at plus-350. Mayweather is 49-0 and has only been down once in his career, and that came when he intentionally touched the canvas with his glove in the final round of a fight he was winning big because his hand was injured and he wanted a brief break.”
Mayweather is justifiably the heavy favorite in this fight, given his unblemished record and the fact that McGregor’s background is in mixed martial arts, not boxing. In an MMA fight, McGregor would be the prohibitive favorite.
There are reasons to believe Mayweather could at least be somewhat vulnerable, however. He’s 40 and 11 years older than McGregor. He hasn’t fought since Sept. 2015, when he beat Andre Berto in a unanimous decision. And given that McGregor has never boxed professionally, Mayweather won’t have film to study on his boxing or a clear understanding of McGregor’s game plan.
It isn’t necessarily hard to envision how McGregor will attack Mayweather, of course—like many boxers before him, he’ll likely try to crowd Mayweather as much as possible to neutralize his elite speed and reaction time and overwhelm him with superior power.
Given Mayweather’s perfect record, however, it’s not as though that strategy has ever completely worked. And while McGregor features a formidable combination of speed and power himself, is the first-time boxer likely to be a more difficult opponent than experienced boxers like Manny Pacquiao, Canelo Alvarez, Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Juan Manuel Marquez, Ricky Hatton or Oscar De La Hoya, previous victims of Mayweather’s brilliance?
No, not likely.
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