Betting Odds Drop As Mayweather And McGregor Sell The Big Event

As the week to the super event between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor gets kicked off one of the man focuses has been the betting odds, which have dramatically turned since before the fight was signed. The event is expected to bring in as much money as a Super Bowl in terms of betting. Some believe it may even be higher. Just like the Super Bowl, the amount of ridiculous things you can bet on has been put to odds. Places have put wagers on what the fighters will wear, what they will say, who will walk them out, whether or not McGregor throws a kick, whether or not Justin Beiber carries a belt, and the list goes on.

Before this fight was signed many people felt that it would be one of the biggest mismatches in sports history. Like a college team going up against the New England Patriots, or a better analogy, an NFL player trying to play one on one against Lebron James in basketball. Boxing, and UFC, while having similarities in combat, are two totally different sports. Most felt McGregor had “no chance in hell.”

Somewhere along the line that changed, significantly. While the fight was in negotiations the odds were put to the test. Floyd Mayweather opened as a -2200 favorite, with McGregor at +950. For those that don’t know betting that means that you needed to put $2200 up to win $100 if you were betting on Floyd Mayweather to win. If you were betting on Conor McGregor to win you would be putting up $100, and you would get $950 if you won. To this day those odds seemed like the logical ones to the person that knows both sports.

The day the fight got signed though, those odds dropped. Floyd Mayweather fell to

-900 and McGregor went to +600. Those odds held for a bit. Then the press tours came, the trash talking, the back and forth accusations, and somewhere in between all that the odds continued to drop. Floyd fell to -600 when it was all said and done, and McGregor went to +400. Basically, this means that a lot of money has been being put down on McGregor to win the fight. People believe in him.

It doesn’t stop there. With ticket sales to the event lacking (over 6000 still remain), and possible PPV projections not living up to par, Mayweather has made some desperate attempts to get people to think that McGregor has even more of a shot than they already do so that more people attend, and buy the fight. He petitioned to have the glove size changed from 10oz gloves to 8oz gloves, which the Nevada State Athletic Commission approved because hey, they need those seats filled to. Word is there are still plenty of hotel rooms at average prices available in Vegas this weekend. That was not the case for Mayweather-Pacquiao. Mayweather has also posted that he will be “partying” at his strip club every night leading up to the fight. Keep in mind Mayweather’s idea of partying is hanging out till 2am in the morning drinking water, and then going to the gym at 3am and staying for two hours. But, those two things have again, dropped the odds.

Today, Mayweather is at the lowest he’s been at -400. Conor McGregor stands at +300. That means not only are Floyd and Conor going to be laughing to the bank when this is all said and done, but it means that everyone accepting bets for this fight are going to make a killing too…”IF” Floyd wins.

It’s not the “stupidity” of people that have made this happen. It’s love and hate. I grew up in Buffalo where the Buffalo Bills are loved here. Every year you will get die-hard fans that will convince you that the Bills will make the playoffs. They will put money on it. Well, it’s been seventeen years since that has happened. It’s love for their team that drive them to believe it. They will convince themselves of it.

People love Conor McGregor. People hate Floyd Mayweather. This idea has made people believe, enough so to put some money on it, that Conor is actually going to win this fight. They believe in Conor. They’ve given McGregor a better chance, or as much of a chance, to beat Mayweather over these fighters:

vs Robert Guerrero -650

vs. Miguel Cotto -700

vs. Victor Ortiz -600

vs. Shane Mosley -400

vs. Juan Manuel Marquez -425

The idea that people are giving McGregor a better chance over decorated boxers, who will enter the Hall of Fame one day, is absolutely mind blowing, at least to non-biased people. But hey, credit to Floyd and Conor. At the end of the day they sold this thing. So much so that people will pay $100 to watch it, and people will continue to bet on Conor because “they want him to win.” Odds dropped from -2200 to -400, and I’m not a huge Vegas guy, but even I know that’s a ridiculous fall. Who knows, maybe McGregor surprises the world Saturday night. Maybe he gets embarrassed. Regardless, everyone will be watching, they will both make over $100 million, and in the end, that’s all they really wanted.