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We bet the public will support Mike Tyson in exchange for Jake Paul
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We bet the public will support Mike Tyson in exchange for Jake Paul

The betting public is overwhelmingly siding with Mike Tyson for Friday’s fight against Jake Paul, which bookmakers say is on track to be the highest-stakes boxing match in years.

The odds have shifted towards Tyson this week, with sportsbooks reporting that more than 90% of bets are on the underdog. Tyson, 58, moved this week from +225 to +175 on ESPN BET, where Paul, 27, is listed as a -225 favorite.

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

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

“As we got closer to the fight, we started seeing a lot of small bets on Tyson,” Avello said. “I’ve made some big bets on Paul, but it won’t beat all the bets on Tyson.”

BetMGM said in a release Tuesday that it expects Tyson-Paul to be the highest-stakes boxing match in the online sportsbook’s seven-year history, and Andrew Babakitis, a risk manager for the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas who oversees fight odds, said is shocked by the betting interest.

“It’s quite surprising to see how many people at this age are still willing to take a shot at Mike Tyson,” Babakitis told ESPN on Wednesday.

Babakitis said the SuperBook had made “several six-figure bets” on the fight, all on Paul. The big bets on Paul also emerged earlier before the fight was postponed from July 15 to November 15 due to a health issue with Tyson. The chances of the fight were in the same range before and after the postponement.

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

“For us, I think this could definitely be our biggest game of the year,” Avello said.

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

Tyson hasn’t fought professionally in almost twenty 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, allow bets on the fight due to several factors.

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