If you don’t know how to read odds yet, you’ll be happy to hear that it is incredibly easy to do, especially when it comes to Boxing. As soon as you’ve got a handle on how the Money Line works, you’ll be home free!
Don’t be disheartened if understanding these numbers is a challenge at first. It’s the same in Boxing betting as it is with anything else, and practice makes perfect. Before you know it, you’ll be able to read them the same way you do anything else. And once it’s become second nature, you can focus on finding ways to pick the winner.
Boxer A -280 vs Boxer B +240
This is how Money Lines express the odds. Boxer A is the favourite, Boxer B the underdog. You’ll see a plus and a minus sign next to each fighter’s name in every match. In this case, you have to bet $280 for every $100 you want to win on Boxer A. For Boxer B, you’ll get $240 back for every $100 you wager. Of course, you don’t have to bet or try to win $100, this is just the number Money Lines use to make the odds simpler.
For example, +300 would be the same as a 3-to-1 underdog and wagering on this fighter will net you $300 on a $100 down if you are right. A boxer at -500 is a 5-to-1 favourite and you’ll need to bet $500 for every $100 you want to win.
Money Lines are partly used because odds on fighters aren’t always whole numbers, so our Boxer A is a favourite with odds of between 2-to-1 and 3-1.
Four Key Concepts
Keep these four facts in mind and you are ready to start wagering:
- Minuses indicate the favourite.
- Plusses show you who the underdog is.
- When a favoured fighter has a minus next their name, that’s how much you need to wager to win $100.
- When an underdog has a plus next their name, that is how much you will win if you bet $100.
Over/Under Bets and Odds
Also known as Totals, these bets don’t ask you to predict the winner of a bout, but how long it will last instead. The sportsbook will post a projected number of rounds a fight is going to last:
Boxer C -400 vs Boxer D +300, Total: 10.5 rounds
Over 10.5 (-240)
Under 10.5 (+180)
In this scenario, if you think the fight is going to go on for longer than 10.5 rounds, you will take the Over at -240. If not, you will take the Under at +180. Beware!
In this fight, the Over/Under is set at 10.5 rounds, which means 10.5 completed rounds. Many first-time Boxing bettors make the mistake of assuming that there is a line in the sand, drawn halfway through the 10th round. It is 10.5 completed rounds, not halfway through the 10th round! The official Over/Under deciding point is at the 1:30 mark of the 11th round.