Bettors swarm to Tyson amid massive interest

The betting public is overwhelmingly siding with Mike Tyson for Friday’s fight against Jake Paul that bookmakers say is on pace to be the most heavily bet boxing match in years.

The odds have been drifting toward Tyson this week, with sportsbooks reporting upward of 90% of the bets being on the 58-year-old underdog. Tyson has moved from +225 to +175 this week at ESPN BET, where the 27-year-old Paul is listed as a -225 favorite.

The eight-round, sanctioned fight takes place Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and will be broadcast on Netflix.

DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN on Thursday that they had taken two $500,000 bets on Paul to win.

“As we got closer to the fight, we’ve started to see a lot of small bets on Tyson,” Avello said. “Took a couple of big bets on Paul, but it’s not going to overcome all the bets on Tyson.”

BetMGM said in a release Tuesday that it expects Tyson-Paul to be the most bet-on boxing match in the online sportsbook’s seven-year history, and an oddsmaker at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas said he has been “shocked” by the betting interest.

“It’s pretty surprising to see how many people are still willing to take a shot on Mike Tyson at this age,” Andrew Babakitis, a risk manager for the SuperBook who oversees fight odds, told ESPN on Wednesday.

Babakitis said the SuperBook had taken “several six-figure bets” on the fight, all of them on Paul. The big bets on Paul previously showed up as well before the fight was postponed from July 15 to Nov. 15 due to a health issue with Tyson. The odds on the fight were in the same range before and after the postponement.

Avello booked the 2017 Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather boxing match in Las Vegas, a fight that drew record betting interest, including five reported million-dollar wagers at Nevada sportsbooks. Avello said, with legal sportsbooks now operating in 38 states and the District of Columbia, Tyson-Paul may attract even more money from bettors, but he isn’t expecting the million-dollar bets he saw on McGregor-Mayweather.

“For us, I think it certainly could be our biggest bout of the year,” Avello said.

The most popular prop bet on the fight is for Tyson to win in the first round. Avello said DraftKings took so much action on Tyson in the first round that it moved the price from 22-1 to 12-1.

Tyson hasn’t fought professionally in nearly 20 years. Paul, who rose to fame as a YouTube influencer, has amassed a 10-1 record in his boxing career.

Not all states, including New York, Colorado and Pennsylvania, are allowing betting on the fight due to a variety of factors.

“I’m shocked at how much this fight is being bet,” Babakitis said. “It almost feels like a joke, but it’s not. There’s some serious money on this thing.”