Mayweather vs. Pacquiao prop bets: Early fight odds and lines
Just days away from the Fight of the Century between Floyd Mayweather Jr. (47-0) and Manny Pacquiao (57-5-2) most bettors are busy trying to pick the side they believe has the best chance to cash. Others are searching through the myriad props available from the sportsbooks to find the ones that offer the most value.
Because of the magnitude of this fight, you should not be too surprised to see how detailed some of the props are, requiring plenty of research before laying down money.
For example, bettors at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com can actually wager on the percentage of punches landed by Mayweather and Pacquiao, according to CompuBox statistics. In fact, Mayweather is a solid -230 favorite (bet $230 to win $100) to connect on a higher percentage of punches over the course of the 12-round championship bout than Pacquiao, who is listed at +180 (bet $100 to win $180).
While Marcos Maidana landed the most punches ever (221) against Mayweather in their first fight nearly a year ago, he still only connected on 26% compared to 230-of-426 (54%) for the champ. Maidana did land more power punches by a 185-178 margin, which is probably the only reason for the majority decision, but again he converted roughly half (34%) when compared to Mayweather (65%).
In addition, the over/under on the boxing betting odds for Mayweather’s percentage of punches landed is set at 40.5 while Pacquiao has a much lower number at 27.5. In Pacquiao’s most recent bout against Chris Algieri last Nov. 23 that he won via unanimous decision, he landed 229-of-669 (34%).
Algieri landed less than half as many punches as Pacquiao, connecting on 108-of-469 (23%). If Pacquiao’s punch volume seems high, consider that it did not top Maidana’s total the first time around (858).
• Mayweather-Pacquiao drug testing program sets precedent for boxing
A couple more props that are interesting and will most likely be decided within the first round unless the two fighters circle the ring for three minutes include who throws the first punch and whether it will be left-handed or right-handed.
Mayweather is the -125 favorite to throw the first punch but is well-known as being one of the best defensive fighters of all-time, so some may think there is a little more value on Pacquiao at -105. However, Pacquiao fights out of the southpaw stance, and left-handed for first punch of the bout is the -130 favorite with right-handed coming in at even money.
