SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
On Thursday 15 June, the official announcement of Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather vs ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor set the world of sports and media alight, with the Las Vegas boxing bout being instantly branded the ‘most hyped fight ever!’
The leading men of boxing and MMA will square-off at the Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena on 26 August, in a fight that is targeting a staggering + $1 billion (£780 million) revenues.
Floyd Mayweather, roundly considered the best fighter of the modern era of boxing, will come out of retirement to a guaranteed ‘nine-figure pay day’. Playing the B-side in the bout, Irishman Conor McGregor is reported to take home at least $75 million.
Showtime Boxing, the US broadcaster of Mayweather vs McGregor, firmly believes that the fight will break ‘all combat sports pay-per-view records’ gaining the highest all-time viewership for a PPV event.
However much anticipated, Mayweather vs McGregor has had its fair share of critics, with a number of boxing commentators/purists stating that the fight is simply a modern-day ‘Freak Show’ with the boxing novice McGregor taking on expert pugilist Mayweather.
Speaking to SBC, Alistair Gill, Sportsbook Commercial Relations for Unibet, suggested that Mayweather vs McGregor has caught the enthusiasm of both punters and bookmakers.
“In the week since the announcement of the fight, Unibet has taken almost 10% of the turnover we took in our biggest ever boxing match, Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao in 2015. With over 2 months to go, and adding to that the fact that 4 of our 5 biggest ever UFC fights involved Conor McGregor, we are looking to smash that figure by some distance,” Gill detailed.
Nevertheless, can a market with a superior and heavily backed favourite maintain punters wagering appetites until 26 August? Gill details that at present, intrigue in the outspoken and fearless McGregor conquering the impossible and beating ‘Money’ Mayweather in a boxing match should well maintain the wider public interest and enthusiasm.
“Though the 1X2 market at the minute doesn’t show particular value with Mayweather around 1/9, as we saw with the UK election punters are certainly not put off a 1X2 market due to short odds on one side. Currently two-thirds of our turnover is on this market.
“However, Unibet has already put a lot of work into our offering to ensure that punters have a wide variety of markets in which to punt on the event with more value. Markets such as Floyd Mayweather to win on points, given Mayweather’s superior boxing technique and his willingness to go the distance, at 15/8 shows good value. On the other side, with his renowned punching power in this own discipline, McGregor to win by KO, TKO or DQ at 6/1 I think could be popular with punters looking for a bit more value and a bit of an outside bet.
“Whatever happens, come 26 August I am confident that we will have seen some truly breathtaking and record-breaking figures.”
Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather vs ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor – Las Vegas – 26 August
