How to Bet on Boxing – A Step-by-Step Guide

Study the Fighters

Every boxer is unique, and if you want to predict which of two fighters will win a match, you’ll need to know all you can about both of them. Look at which fighter has the most advantageous physique in terms of height, reach, and current fitness. Learn their strengths and weaknesses – does a fighter have lots of staying power but a glass jaw, for example? Also, check out their boxing stats so that you know their win percentage, as well as how often they win by knockout or go the distance. All of this information will help you to see how the fighters compare and make a betting decision based on facts and reason rather than gut instinct.

Research Past Meetings

If the two boxers you are considering have fought each other in the past, you should obviously look at how they fared against each other. Consider whether they are meeting on the same or similar terms, and if so, see if the bookies expect a similar result this time around. If your two boxers haven’t previously met in the ring, look at whether they have any past opponents in common. Their performance against one or more common opponents could provide some valuable clues to how they might be expected to perform against each other in the bout to come.

Consider the Setting

Look at where the upcoming fight will take place. If it’s in the home city or nation of one of the fighters, you can reasonably expect that fighter to benefit from the setting. Home advantage in boxing is a real thing, and while hearing the roar of a supportive local crowd won’t help a fighter improve his skill or ability, it can certainly buoy his spirits. It’s also been observed that home advantage might influence how judges score a fight, so if you expect it to go the distance, it’s something well worth taking into consideration before you bet on boxing fights.

Hedge With Free Bets

Many online betting sites offer welcome deals for new customers, and quite a few of those deals include one or more free bets. If you take advantage of these deals, you can put free bets to good use when betting on boxing. Consider making a bet with your own cash on your preferred fighter with one bookmaker and using a free bet with another bookmaker to back his opponent. If your preferred fighter wins, you’ll make a cash profit, and your only loss will be the free boxing bet, which costs you nothing. Of course, if your preferred fighter loses to his opponent, the free bet will win, giving you a return in the other account that should soften the blow.

Get the Best Boxing Odds

Our final tip is to try to get the best possible odds for each of your boxing bets. There is no law against signing up for an account with as many different online bookmakers as you want. When you do that you’ll be able to compare their odds and bet with the one that offers the best odds for the outcome you want to bet on. You might only get slightly higher odds by doing this, but over the long term, the relatively little time invested in shopping around could pay off handsomely. You can find out more about why odds are important in our Value Betting guide.

Fight Winner

This is the market that most people think of when discussing fight betting. As illustrated in our earlier example, it involves predicting which of the two boxers will win the fight or whether it will result in a draw. A draw is actually quite rare in boxing, so the odds for that outcome will always be bigger than those for either fighter.

Fight Outcome

Here you bet on the type of outcome that the fight will have. There are generally five options. Those are:

Because this market requires more precision than the Fight Winner market, the odds on offer are usually more generous.

Fight to Go the Distance

The question you have to answer here is whether or not the fight in question will go to the very end of the final round. Odds are offered for Yes and No predictions. If you think the fight will go all the way, you’d bet on Yes. If you think that one of the fighters will win before the end of the final round, you’d bet on No.

Round Betting

Those of you who fancy more of a challenge can look at the Round Betting market. This requires you to predict how the fight will end and in which round. For example, if you think that Fighter 1 will win the fight in Round 3, you can bet on that outcome. This is a tricky market to succeed in, so you’ll get great odds if your prediction turns out to be correct.

When Will Fight End

This is similar to the Round Betting market, but here you don’t have to predict which fighter will win. Instead, you simply have to predict when the fight will end. You’ll have an option for each round in the match, plus one more for the fight to go the distance.

Draw No Bet

In this market, you bet on whether Fighter 1 or Fighter 2 will win the match. If the fight ends in a draw, your bet will be cancelled and your stake will be refunded back to your account. The odds for each fighter will be lower here than in the Fight Winner market because you can’t lose money if a draw occurs. However, we’ve already said that draws are quite rare, so whether you want to take lower odds to protect yourself against that outcome is up to you. See our Draw No Bet page for more information on this type of market.