Manny Pacquiao has become hot-favourite for Sky Bet punters as the victor of the ‘Fight of the Century’, the May 2 showdown between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. The fight is around two months away but early-betting has started has already started.
Currently, Pacquiao stands as favourite for the match against the undefeated Mayweather. A staggering 72{317a7769e272dec17b69bda26c6a5a4c5e6799efcd8a85f72cb552b76862c2b9} of the customers of Sky Bet, the online bookmaker, are supporting Pacquiao despite the fact that Mayweather is a 4/11 favourite.
Sky Bet was the first online bookmaker to put the match for betting right after its official announcement on 20th February.
According to the spokesman of Sky Bet Dale Tempest, the gambling industry heavily relies on televised sports, but this is a rare case in which a fight is attracting such a high level of attention from punters even before it has announced a broadcast home in the UK.
The upcoming mega-fight might just break all betting records. From Saturday Night’s title match between Chris Avalos and Carl Frampton, which was a broadcasted live on terrestrial network, it was noticed that the betting tradition has increased significantly since the announcement of ‘Fight of the Century’.
Analysts predict that in case of Pacquiao’s victory over the undefeated ‘Money’ Mayweather, Sky Bet could lose a fortune. The bet for Pacquiao’s victory in the 8th round is the most active bet in individual round betting category which stands at 40/1. One customer from Basingstoke has placed a bet worth £600 for Pacquiao’s victory by any means at 9/4.
It is expected that the highest-grossing match of the history will attract a record number of online bookmakers making it one of the most heavily betted games in the history of Boxing.
