COMBAT sports have been around since the dawn of time and for many, boxing is the perfection of it. It an art; the actual art in martial arts.
A lot of money moves through boxing matches, and when big-name heavy-hitters collide, we see massive amounts of cash. Prize purses into the 100s of millions – Mayweather vs. McGregor we guaranteed 100 million dollars and 30 million dollars respectively, but ultimately earned 275 million and 85 million.
And this isn’t counting all of the ad revenue, and money that moves through Las Vegas and the best online sportsbooks.
Speaking of Las Vegas and all of that money sliding in and out of the casinos, whether brick and mortar or online, how does betting on boxing work?
The Lines
The most common betting line you’ll see in boxing is known as the Money Line. It’s the most basic form of betting and you are simply wagering on the overall outcome of the fight; who wins and who loses. But the thing with boxing is more often than not, one fighter is massively favoured over the other. Often to the tune of more than -1000.
But what does this number mean?
In American odds, when you see a minus symbol in front of a number, it signifies the amount of money you need to risk to win $100.00.
Brook is a -1600 favorite over DeLuca who is sitting at +1050. A $100 bet on Mark DeLuca to win would net you a cool $1050 if he pulled off the upset. But a $100 wager on Brook would only net you six dollars and twenty-five cents. Not such an attractive bet, right? So if you want to capitalize on this, here's a list of safe books to bet on.
So why is this?
Well, it’s good old-fashioned risk versus reward. There is a very high-risk factor by taking DeLuca, so the reward reflects that fact. There is a low risk factor for taking Brook. So, you have to risk much more money to get a worthwhile reward.
How do you even up the odds?
The next most common is likely to be betting on the duration of the fight. Since we are fairly sure that Kell Brook is going to win, it doesn’t make much sense to waste our money on Mark DeLuca and there is just no value and betting on Brook to win.
However, you can bet that Kell Brook defeats DeLuca in 7.5 rounds (before the start of the 8th) at a price of -120. This is much more valuable, returning 83.33 dollars per 100 staked or 83.3 cents on the dollar.
Conversely, if you think DeLuca can actually survive until the 8th round, you can take that bet at -110, or 91 cents on the dollar.
Boxing Props are probably the most entertaining, and often have a ton of value.
You can find odds for the fight to end in specific rounds and odds on which fighter will win in each round. There are odds on how the fighter will win, such as Kell Brook by decision or by KO/TKO. You can also find odds on things like the number of punches thrown/landed; whether a fighter will have a point deducted; if there will be a knockdown, the list goes on and on.
Now that you understand a little bit better about how the odds work, the main thing to keep in mind when betting on boxing is looking for value.
Where does there seem to be an edge against the sportsbook? Is there a specific betting line that seems soft or seems to go against the other odds on the board? An example of this could be if one fighter is a massive favorite to win, say -900, but the line to win by decision is much closer, say -120.
Boxing is a fickle sport, even the best fighters in the world are always just one punch away from an upset loss. So, pick your spots carefully. Small wagers during live betting on a mobile app can be a lot of fun just to make each round more exciting.
In December 2020 we sadly 
