The COVID-19 pandemic has virtually shut down the entire sporting world. For now, we’re left to wonder when the coronavirus quarantines will end and when the sports will get back in action.
That’s left a lot of time for bettors to talk about rumors and hypotheticals, and to spice up the conversation, MyBookie Sportsbook has posted a slew of betting lines on possible bouts we’ll see this year.
Let’s take a look at the possible boxing matchups they have in mind as well as the betting odds they’ve posted. It should make for some fun watercooler debates as to how realistic these are and who’ll win.
Deontay Wilder vs Tyson Fury
Odds: Fury -260
One fight that is not a hypothetical will be the third bout between heavyweights Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury. Fury mostly dominated the first bout with Wilder but suffered a late knockdown that led to a somewhat controversial tie. In the rematch, he dominated from start to finish, forcing Wilder’s corner to throw in the towel.
Wilder closed as a -150 favorite in the rematch but is now a +210 underdog. He’ll have to look like a completely different fighter or change his strategy if he hopes to win because Fury has seemingly figured him out.
Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor
Odds: Mayweather -200
It looked like we’d have a Floyd Mayweather comeback in 2020 but that’s “likely” been canceled due to deaths in the family. In the last few weeks alone, Mayweather lost the mother of his three children when Josie Harris was found dead in her car on March 11th. One week later, uncle and longtime head trainer Roger Mayweather lost his battle with diabetes and passed away.
At any rate, we never know with Money Mayweather and if the payday is right, he might just decide to come out of retirement later in the year. The question is who will he fight if he does? One option is a rematch with Conor McGregor. Mayweather will probably want an easy, winnable bout for him that comes with a big payday and McGregor would offer that. If it happens, Mayweather is a prohibitive -200 favorite at MyBookie while McGregor is posted at +160.
Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao
Odds: Mayweather -260
If it’s not a Mayweather-McGregor rematch, we might see Mayweather-Pacquiao II. The two boxing legends are obviously in the twilight of their careers and watching them fight at age 43 (Mayweather) and 41 (Pacquiao) is not the bout that everyone craved when they were in their prime. At the same time, both are icons of the sport and people will pay money to see them go at it one more time.
Mayweather mostly dominated the first bout, winning by unanimous decision. He’s only fought two other times since (that fight was in 2015). Pacquiao, on the other hand, has been more active as he has fought six times since, winning five of the fights. He hasn’t fought in almost a year, though, as he’s coming off a split decision win over Keith Thurman last July.
Manny Pacquiao vs Mikey Garcia
Odds: Pacquiao -160
One fight that has that has fight fans excited is a potential bout between Pacquiao and Garcia. Pacquiao is obviously a legend of the sport while Garcia had been a fighter on the rise before his loss to Errol Spence Jr. back in 2019. To date, that’s still the only blemish on his record as he’s won all 40 of his other fights.
Even so, the loss to Spence Jr. was concerning enough that oddsmakers have posted 41-year-old Pacquiao a -160 favorite over Garcia, who is nine years younger.
Billy Joe Saunders vs Saul Alvarez
Odds: Alvarez -700
This fight was previous on the docket for May 2nd in Las Vegas but we’ll have to see if it ends up happening. To start, Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin have already agreed to their trilogy bout, which is slated for the fall. If the coronavirus pandemic drags on, many will wonder if they’ll just cancel this fight and move to the Alvarez-GGG fight.
The general feel here is that Canelo should dispose of Saunders rather easily. However, Saunders is no cupcake. He’s 29-0 and is ranked as the second-best active super-middleweight by BoxRec and sixth by The Ring. The challenge for him is that he’s really never fought anyone of Alvarez’ caliber as his latest wins have come against Marcelo Esteban Coceres, Shefat Isufi and Charles Adamu. Alvarez has won 11 of his last 12 with the lone miss being a draw and he’s beaten the likes of Sergey Kovalev, Gennady Golovkin, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Amir Khan and Miguel Cotto in that span. This isn’t expected to be much more than a blip on the radar for him, as long as he’s focused on the task at hand and not looking ahead to Golovkin.