UK Bookies Avoid Disaster As Mayweather Beats McGregor

UK Bookies Avoid Disaster With Mayweather Victory

UK Bookies were desperate to see Floyd Mayweather come out victorious in the ‘Fight of the Century’ against Conor McGregor in Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night. Due to the popular nature of the Irishman, plenty of punters put their money on him to end Mayweather’s undefeated streak, meaning that the bookies would have been in big trouble if that had come to fruition.  There was so much interest in the event from a betting point of view, that it would have actually meant record losses for most bookmakers.

It was interesting to see that the majority of pundits and experts were expecting Mayweather to dominate the contest, with most thinking an early stoppage was the way it was going to go. Lets face it, you can see why this was the general consensus.

Floyd Mayweather has had a spectacular professional boxing career, winning 49 times before this contest with 27 of them being by knockout. The last stoppage he had did come back in 2011 against Victor Ortiz, but the quality of opponent he has faced throughout his 21 year career has been at the highest level. He has beaten world class boxers such as Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo Alvarez and Manny Pacquiao to name but a few, and was looking to add Conor McGregor’s name to his list of fallen foes.

McGregor on the other hand, is known for his Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) career, and was stepping into a professional boxing ring for the very first time. ‘The Notorious One’ was building a name for himself on the MMA circuit since 2008, but it was his debut in the largest MMA promotion the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) that really launched him into super stardom. The charisma he showed as well as his visually appealing fighting style made him undoubtedly the largest star in the promotion, and there were constant rumblings of a super fight with Mayweather.

Not many people actually thought it would happen, and thought that the occasional trash talking in the public eye was all for show. That is why there was a general sense of shock when the fight was officially announced on the 14th June. After this date, the hype train well and truly went into overdrive.

UK Bookies Odds Tumbled

When the bookmakers markets first went up, it was clear that the American was expected to win very comfortably. He could have been backed at 1/12 back then, with McGregor at a large 7/1 to pull off a miracle. In a one on one contest, those are big odds. Though, ever since then the public support kept growing and growing, meaning that more punters were putting their money on McGregor. Of course, there were still those that placed large stakes on Mayweather in the expectation that he was a dead cert to win, but the majority of the money went on his opponent.

There were a number of factors in the build up to the fight that persuaded punters the Irishman may have had a chance. Many people were impressed with McGregor’s trash talking during the worldwide press tour and his talk of ending the fight early had many believing the hype. Then, with not long to go until the fight, the announcement that both fighters would be wearing 8oz gloves rather than the usual 10oz gloves had the experts thinking this was a slight advantage to McGregor.

By the day of the fight, Mayweather was still heavy favourite at around 2/9, while McGregor’s odds had shortened to around 3/1 with most bookies. When the two fighters actually got into the ring, those that had backed McGregor may have thought they were in for a big pay out when watching the first few rounds, as the Irishman’s speed and unpredictable style looked to be causing Mayweather problems.

When it hit round 6 though, the fatigue was clearly setting in for Conor and from then on it seemed to be quite easy work for the man that many considered the best pound for pound boxer in the world. The end came 1 minute and 5 seconds into round number 10 as a flurry of punches lead to experienced referee Richard Byrd stepping in and awarding the Technical KnockOut win to Mayweather.

A lucky Escape

With the announcement of Mayweather as the winner, the audible sigh of relief from bookmakers could be heard right around the world. The amount of money paid out on Floyd Mayweather was nowhere near the amount they would have had to fork out had a big upset happened.

Paddy Power bookmakers had famously paid out early on a Mayweather victory, controversially going against their fellow countryman which rubbed quite a few punters the wrong way. Lee Price, a representative of Paddy Power told Sports Betting Community (SBC):

“It was the biggest betting event of the year, and McGregor avoided the fourth round knockout he’d promised – therefore meaning we swerved a seriously heavy beating.

“The fight itself lived up to what all the sensible pundits were predicting but, with Leicester, Brexit and Trump still looming large in our thoughts, you could never fully rule out McGregor.”

Another major bookmaker that have spoken of their relief after the fight are Betway, whose head of PR Alan Alger had this to say about the event:

“The bet count throughout Saturday was similar to if a major football final was taking place that evening.

“Some of the early rounds for McGregor had liabilities that would have produced a record loss on any market we’ve ever offered. Thankfully, in the end, we couldn’t have picked a better outcome. It was one of the busiest and most profitable events in the history of the company.”

After the event was all said and done, Betway have gone on to speculate what might be next for both fighters. In his interview after the fight, Floyd Mayweather said that this was 100% his last professional fight. After taking his boxing record to a perfect 50-0 and breaking Rocky Marciano’s record he really has nothing left to prove. ‘Money’ Mayweather has already moved into the Entertainment business in the past, and Betway have him at 4/6 to make another WWE appearance at Wrestlemania. If you are bold, he can also be backed at 10/1 to run for Senate in the US. McGregor will certainly fight again and he is likely to return to the UFC. Tony Ferguson is the favourite to be his opponent at 6/4, while Kevin Lee is 7/4 and the trilogy fight with Nate Diaz is 5/1.

Matched Betting Offers Meant A Guaranteed Win

As punters there was actually no need to risk your cash, as through matched betting there were plenty of offers available to make sure you profited from the event. For example, new Betfair customers were able to get 20/1 on Mayweather to win and 40/1 on McGregor. We could actually use the matched betting calculator on MatchedBets.com to ensure a win from enhanced odds offers such as this. As you would be paid in cash at the normal price and the extras paid as free bets, we used the ‘Enhanced Odds as Free Bets’ function on the calculator.

All you would have had to do was enter the back stake, back odds and enhanced odds as well as the lay odds and lay commission %. The calculator would then work out your ideal lay stake as well as your liability on the betting exchange. This can be used for future enhanced odds offers, that are often promoted for the biggest sporting events such as Premier League football. You will never have to risk your money again.

As well as the enhanced odds offers, there were also some round betting offers that money could have been made from. Whenever there are any betting offers available for any sporting event around the world, MatchedBets.com will list each of them will a full offer guide that explains how to make a profit. Outlining what you need to do clearly and efficiently, you will be able to guarantee yourself a profit easily. With the help of our industry leading tools like the Odds Matcher and the matched betting calculator, making money has never been easier.

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