Serious money is being thrown around for the biggest fight in combat sports history, as wagers are being placed for the highly anticipated August 26 boxing contest between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor. Just days ago an $880,000 wager was placed in favor of Mayweather winning the fight.
According to records it is the largest wager yet placed on the matchup. The wager was recorded Friday in Las Vegas and should Mayweather get the win, the gambler will take home a total payout of $1.04 million. The slip had to be printed twice as the original ticket only showed a possible $120,000 profit instead of the full $160,000.
This misprint was due to South Point's bookmaking system which does not allow a payout of more than $1 million. To alleviate the problem the bet was redone as two separate $440,000 wagers. The identity of the individual who placed the bet has not been released publicly.
Defying the odds
According to Chris Andrews, South Point's director, more bets have been recorded with McGregor as the victor, simply because of the larger payout. When Friday's record wager was placed, Mayweather was the favorite with a betting line of -550. As fight day approaches and more coverage of McGregor sparring with former world champion Paulie Malignaggi is released, it appears that the gap is dwindling.
Mayweather has not competed in a sanctioned bout in roughly 18 months, though he has more experience in the ring -- more than 20 years of professional fights under his belt, and an impressive 49-0 record.
McGregor has no professional boxing experience, however, he is one of the best strikers in competitive mixed martial arts. Should McGregor defeat Mayweather it may be the biggest upset in sports history.
History in the making
The Mayweather-McGregor fight will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and air live on pay-per-view.
The fight will take place at welterweight and is expected to break almost every record for professional combat sports, including total gate, pay-per-view buys, and sports betting wagers. Also on the four-fight pay-per-view broadcast portion of the evening, Gervonta "Tank" Davis will defend his IBF Junior Lightweight World Championship against Francisco Fonseca.
Nathan Cleverly will defend his WBA Light Heavyweight title against the former 168-pound champion Badou Jack. Also, Andrew Tabiti will fight Steve Cunninghamin for the USBA cruiserweight title to kick off the event.
