A brief boxing betting guide

Betting on boxing is a thrilling activity, which also offers bettors the chance to win money provided they understand the sport and grasp some of the subtleties of how professional boxing works.

Boxing betting guide

As with all sports, the first steps to learn how to bet on boxing are to find out how boxing works and to understand the types of markets available. Most of the boxing matches that usual sport betting platforms like betFIRST sports betting offers are standard professional fights (10 three-minute rounds) and championship matches (12 three-minute rounds). They generally exclude Olympic boxing (three three-minute rounds).

A boxing match can end in different ways:

·      Knockout: one of the boxers fails to get up within the 10 seconds counted by the referee after a knockdown.

·      Technical knockout: the referee stops the fight because one of the boxers is unable to continue due to an injury caused by a blow or because his trainer ‘throws in the towel’ (gives up).

·      Decision: one of the boxers wins based on the points obtained on the scorecards of three judges.

·      Technical decision: the bout is decided on points after an injury.

·      Disqualification: one of the boxers is disqualified.

It should be noted that the various regulatory bodies (IBF, WBC, WBA and WBO) have significantly different interpretations of the technical decision rule.

The importance of research

Research is essential if you want to learn how to bet on boxing. Weight categories, body types and fighting styles are all different, which is why it’s important to know each boxer’s strengths and weaknesses.

As well as comparing the style of the two boxers, it’s interesting to analyse their pre-fight training. If a boxer changes weight category, either way, the physical preparation work can tell us a lot.

Physical condition is not the best indicator

In boxing, performances in recent matches carry far less weight than other sources of influence in determining the most likely winner of a fight: just because a boxer has a perfect record doesn’t mean he’s the best. On the other hand, you shouldn’t necessarily overlook a boxer with a record of defeats.

To bet on boxing, it’s a good idea to find out how boxers have performed against comparable opponents with similar styles, strengths and weaknesses: these results will give you an idea of the balance of power between the two boxers.

Analyse the fight, not the event

The personalities of boxers and their sense of showmanship have always played a big part in boxing. However, to bet on this sport, it is imperative to analyse the fight as a whole, not the event itself.

As with other sports, pay attention to the signal and ignore the noise. Don’t get caught up in the boxer’s opinion of himself or the judgement of his legions of fans. Analyse the fight objectively and draw your own conclusions: if you notice something that the bookmaker didn’t, you can take advantage of it.