Maloof Brothers Place $880k Bet on Mayweather Fight

On Saturday 26th August, Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor will meet in one of the most eagerly anticipated fights in a decade, with the boxing match taking place at the T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip. Ahead of the big fight, the bookies have been busy taking bets, including a huge wager of $880,000 on Mayweather to win by Joe and Gavin Maloof, who can expect to earn a $160,000 profit if their bet pays off.
The Maloof brothers, famous for having sold the Sacramento Kings for $534 million in 2013, received -550 odds on their bet, representing better value than the -800 he was assigned when the fight was first announced. With the more attractive odds, bettors are now being given more value to wager on a Mayweather victory, resulting in a last-minute flood of bets on the five-division world champion.
Mayweather is looking to secure a 50th straight win to retire undefeated after fighting his first professional bout back in October of 1996. This time around, however, the 40 year-old will be fighting against Conor McGregor, a 29 year-old MMA fighter who has never taken part in a professional boxing match before.
As well as being a phenomenal fighter, Floyd Mayweather is also considered by many to be the best defensive boxer of all time, and commenting upon his upcoming match, Gavin Maloof told the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
“Conor McGregor’s great and all the respect in the world to Dana White and the UFC. But it’s very difficult to transplant an MMA fighter to boxing.”
Still, boxing is often full of surprises, and UFC president Dana White believes that McGregor has every possibility of causing one of the biggest upsets in the sport. As he subsequently explains:
“I stopped doubting Conor McGregor a long time ago. Everything he’s told me he’s going to do, he’s done, so if he says he’ll beat Floyd Mayweather inside four rounds, he will.. He’s the bigger, stronger fighter. People aren’t giving him a chance and that’s just crazy. This is going to be a fight, and anything can happen in a fight.”