According to the best bookies, Mike Tyson is underdog against 27-year-old influencer Jake Paul. However, the former heavyweight champion’s victory is such an attractive odds that a number of celebrities could be in the running.
Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul match in Las Vegas
A couple of weeks ago, the news broke that youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul would be taking on 58-year-old Mike Tyson in Las Vegas on July 21. It’s been 19 years since one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time last stepped between the ropes in a professional setting, so it surprised many that he would take on such a fight at his age. Tyson is now retired from professional sport, currently running his own business and most recently becoming an ambassador of an online casino.
Tyson and Paul’s fight is of course a huge hype, with daily newspaper reports of celebrities and sports personalities giving their views on the fight.
The build-up is certainly very professional. Both athletes are posting a lot on their social media pages and there are a lot of press inquiries. The fight itself is very divisive by the way, with many fearing Tyson because of his age and others hoping for the end of the influencer’s career with a Tyson ear.
The details of the fight are still subject to change, but as far as we know it will be an exhibition bout, with 2-minute rounds and fighters wearing 16-ounce gloves. There will be no scorekeepers, but a winner will still be declared, as knockouts will not be prohibited.
Mike Tyson’s chance against Jake Paul
This fight will be a sporting event that almost everyone has an opinion on. NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, for example, doesn’t think it’s a fair move to take on young Jake Paul, as the basketball player thinks the age difference between the two is too big. Former coach Mike Tyson, on the other hand, said that Paul could take a very nasty beating if he takes a punch or two.
Betting on the Paul-Tyson fight is now open at the bookmakers. Bookmakers have picked 27-year-old Jake Paul as the favourite, with the YouTube influencer’s win paying average odds of 1.60, while a win for the veteran legend could be worth between 2.20 and 2.30 to punters.
Famous athletes who like to bet
The Tyson-Paul fight is of course a huge hype, with daily newspaper reports of celebrities and sports personalities giving their views on the fight. We can almost be sure that as the match date approaches, news will start to come in of celebrities and sportspeople placing big bets on the game.
This is not at all an unusual phenomenon, as we have seen examples of this in the recent past. Professional fighter Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather, for example, is a regular bettor on the biggest sporting events, and the millionaire boxer is not afraid to bet big. In 2005, for example, he bet $750,000 on his own victory against Oscar de La Hoya and won a handsome sum.
Mayweather’s favourite sport to bet on, however, is the NFL. The sports bettor also achieved the biggest loss of his career in American football when he bet $626 000 on the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.
Will famous poker stars bet on Tyson?
Mayweather is not the only one who can claim to be a big betting man. Dan Bilzerian, one of the world’s most famous poker players, often risks his money by placing bets on sporting events. Four years ago, for example, he lost nearly US$1 million betting on the returning Conor McGregor at UFC 246, but the Irish bad boy knocked out his opponent in just 40 seconds to win the fight.
One of the best poker players of all time, Phil Ivey also likes to bet big. In 2015, he bet big on the Seahawks Patriots to win the Super Bowl.
Also a world famous gambler, former legend Billy Baxter was not only inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, but also into the Sportsbook Hall of Fame. Baxter is a legendary name in the world of online gambling, having regularly won huge sums in sports betting for decades. The legendary Doyle Brunson also had a reputation as a big bettor, but several poker players have claimed that he took big losses on sports bets.
It’s safe to say that as the match date approaches, we’ll be getting news that the high rollers will start betting on the match. It will be interesting to see if the big betters place their bets on the young but semi-pro Jake Paul or the veteran but with an amazing career Mike Tyson.
Of course, for bets of hundreds of thousands of dollars, you also need to find the right offices. In addition to land-based arcades and betting shops, there are a growing number of online bookmakers where you can place huge bets.
