Best Boxing Betting Sites 2024
Are you a fan of boxing and have great boxing knowledge? Are you looking to use that knowledge to make some cash by betting? If so, we have prepared a detailed guide on the best boxing sites to use in 2024 with pros and cons of each.
Are you a fan of boxing and have great boxing knowledge? Are you looking to use that knowledge to make some cash by betting? If so, we have prepared a detailed guide on the best boxing sites to use in 2024 with pros and cons of each.
Boxing has enjoyed something of a resurgence in recent times thanks to the presence of high-profile, charismatic, box-office fighters like Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury capturing the imagination of the public.
And the interest is by no means limited to the sporting side of things. Whereas the most important fights involve big bucks in appearance fees and prize money for the boxers themselves, they also see millions of pounds exchange hands at online boxing betting sites.
Increased traditional media and social media coverage, more TV broadcasting, the availability of the biggest fights on live streaming services and a far greater number of betting boxing markets on offer at the best boxing betting sites means there has never been a better time for a sports betting customer to put their money where their mouth is.
How to Bet on Boxing Online
You won’t get very far when it comes to having a bet on boxing without having an active betting account.
Choose one or more boxing betting sites
You’ll find all the information you need about what’s important when choosing the top betting sites for boxing on this very page.
Once you’ve decided on one or two that tick the boxes that matter most to you, it’s time to open an account.
Open an account
- On the site’s homepage there will always be a button, generally in the top-right hand corner that will say Join Now/Open account/Register, or words to that effect.
- The first step asks you to confirm your country of residence, choose the currency you wish to make deposits and withdrawals in and to provide your e-mail address, a User ID that you’ll be known as in future communications and your own unique password.
- You’ll then be asked to provide further personal details such as: postal address, mobile number, date of birth and so on.
Source: Ladbrokes
Verify your account/Pass your YC check
- You may be asked to provide documents such as a passport, driver’s license or utility bill to confirm that you are who you say you are.
- Whether or not you’re asked for these documents at this stage, you’ll always need to pass a Know Your Customer (KYC) check at some stage.
Make a Deposit
- The next step is to get some money in your account. Look out for the Deposit/Make a Deposit button.
- Here’s an example of some of the options available to you at Betfair; some sites to bet on boxing have plenty more available.
Source: Ladbrokes
- In some cases minimum odds apply to qualifying bets and payment method exclusions can also be in place when looking to claim a free bet as part of the bookies’ welcome offer.
- If you do use one of the ‘forbidden’ methods, you’ll still be able to make the deposit of course but you won’t be able to benefit from the welcome offer.
Navigate to the Boxing Section
Most betting sites have a menu of the sports you can bet on in the left-hand column of the site.
They’re generally in alphabetical order so the boxing section is normally near the top. Here’s how to find the boxing markets on the Coral website.
Source: Coral
- You’ll then be able to select the particular boxing match you’re interested in betting on.
Latest Promotions and Sign-Up Offers
All of the best online betting sites for boxing will have a welcome offer of some description waiting for you as a reward for you.
Free Bet
Normally you’ll need to make a deposit and place a qualifying bet for a smaller amount than the value of the free bet, or bets, that you can claim.
For example, at Ladbrokes you can claim £20 in free bets when you place a qualifying bet of just £5.
Make sure you read all the Ts and Cs carefully to ensure that you do everything you need to in order to claim the free bet.
- In many cases both the qualifying and free bet may need to be placed at minimum odds, may need to be wagered on a certain sport, may require you to use a particular depositing method and in all cases, both bets will need to be struck within a particular time period.
- There will almost always be a minimum amount for the qualifying bet and there may also be restrictions on the type of bets you can place.
- Something to be aware of is that with almost all free bets, returns exclude credits stake. That means that if you have a winning free bet, the profits from it will be credited to you but not the stake itself.
Risk-free bet
With this one, you place a bet with your own money and will be refunded the value of it if it goes on to lose. If it wins, you’ll be paid out on it as per usual and you won’t be credited the value of the (winning) bet because…it won.
Deposit Bonus
This used to be a staple when it came to welcome offers, but you don’t see it quite as much anymore.
Here you get a percentage of what you deposit credited to you as bonus money. So, if you deposited £50 and the offer was of a 100% bonus, you’d get an extra £50 to play with.
One thing to be aware of is wagering requirements.
If the wagering requirements only apply to the bonus, then just be aware of what they are and how best to meet them. If the wagering requirements also apply to the money you deposited yourself, then it might not be worth taking up the welcome offer.
Key Features of Top Boxing Betting Sites
The section below lists some of the considerations to take into account when deciding which site or sites for boxing you want to be playing at.
All fights covered
Most of the best online boxing betting sites will cover all the big fights but if you’re a hardcore boxing fan you’ll also want them to have odds on slightly less high-profile ones
Generous Odds
Arguably the most important factor of all when choosing betting sites for boxing is the generosity of the odds..
Live Betting
The best boxing betting sites will have live betting on all the big fights. But it’s also important that they offer it on the lesser fights and finally that they offer plenty of live betting markets, not just the winner of the fight.
Cash Out
Not everyone is a fan of the Cash Out option with many preferring to let their bet reach its natural conclusion and getting the full payout if it does win rather than banking a (reduced) profit before the bet is settled as a winner or loser.
But most will agree that it’s certainly a benefit if the betting site has it available.
How to choose Boxing Betting Sites
Here are a few of the factors that most punters agree are important.
Regulation: Make sure that the site has a valid gambling license that ensures they do everything by the book. Such as keeping separate accounts for customer funds and their own, performing audits, regularly testing their own software and paying out winning bets to customers when they ought to.
Sign-up offer: We’ve covered this already but you’re looking for a sign-up offer that gives you a free bet for a decent amount (and is ideally considerably bigger than your qualifying bet) or a generous deposit bonus.
Payment options: The more, the better, as every customer will have different preferences. While one may prefer using a debit card for transactions, another may prefer e-wallets like Neteller or PayPal.
Value for money: This could either relate to the generosity of the odds or to the generosity of their promotions (see below). But it could also mean free extra features available that help you with your betting. Like on-site stats, a useful blog or live streaming.
Promotions and offers: You want offers that actually give you bonuses that you want and have real value rather than ones you’re not interested in or are virtually worthless.
Help and support: Everyone will have an issue at some stage or another such as a payment not going through, a problem verifying their account or something similar. So, it’s vital that the Support Department is helpful, knowledgeable, polite and above all, solves your problem.
Responsible gambling: The betting site needs to take Responsible Gambling seriously, have tools available to help you keep your betting in check and provide you with support you do feel you might have a gambling problem.
Range of Boxing Markets Offered
These are some of the most common betting markets ahead of, or during, any given boxing match.
To Win Bet: The most popular market of all is simply asking which boxer will win the fight.
To Win on Points: A bet where you’ll only win if the victorious boxer does so on points, rather than via another method.
Win By KO: Similar to the above but here you need the fighter to win by Knockout (KO) rather than in any other way.
Nominate A Round: Select the round in which the fight comes to an end. This could be via a KO, TKO or if it goes the distance, then it would be a victory by points that’s the winner on the market.
Boxing Betting Strategies
Here are a few considerations before striking your bet.
Understand Fight Context: Understand how important the fight is to both boxers. If there are reasons to think one might be slightly more motivated than the other, that could make all the difference.
Small Details Matter: For example, the venue of the fight is very important because ‘home support’ from the fans could give the home fighter a boost, whereas it’s also the case that the home fighter tends to benefit from more generous decisions from the judges.
Favour Southpaw Fighters: Being a Southpaw, or a left-handed fighter, is often seen as being a big advantage in professional boxing. The reason for that is that right-handed fighters with an orthodox stance aren’t so used to facing Southpaws, rather like right-handed tennis players often struggle against ‘lefties’.
Boxing Betting Tips
Here are some boxing betting tips to put you on the right track.
Be as informed as possible
Watch previous fights by both boxers, study their records against similar fighters to the one they’re up against, analyse how they performed at a particular venue or at a particular time of day.
Find your niche
Whether that means specialising in a particular weight division or on a particular betting market, it’s always good to have a niche area of expertise rather than trying to be an expert on all boxing and all boxing markets.
Always look for betting value
The key to making a profit at online bookmakers is to back value bets. In other words, it’s not about betting on what you think will happen but rather it’s a case of betting on selections available at higher odds than what you think they should be.
Best Types of Boxing Bets
The best boxing betting sites offer lots of different betting markets, providing great choice to boxing bettors. Here are five of the best markets to get stuck into.
Match Betting
Probably the easiest market to play because it focuses on the most important obvious aspect of all: who will win the fight?
Round Betting
There are two great benefits to playing this boxing market. The first is that analysis of previous fights can provide a good insight into which round a particular boxer tends to win in. The second is that because it’s quite hard to predict which round a fighter will win in, the odds on offer on each round are pretty high. So, you only need to get a few of these right from time to time to show a long-term profit.
Method of Victory Betting
The options on the method of victory market are: 1) Boxer A/B by KO, TKO or disqualification, 2) Boxer A/B by Decision or Technical Decision or 3) Draw or Technical Draw. Again, thorough research can put you on the right track in terms of working out how the fight might be won and the odds on offer on the different selections in this market are always bigger than on the straight win.
Boxing Accumulators
Football accas are a staple of weekend sports betting but there’s no reason why boxing accas can’t be as well. There are generally at least 7 or 8 boxing fights on any given Saturday night and online boxing betting sites give you the chance to combine selections from several fights together into one acca at big odds.
Best Online Boxing Betting Payment Methods
Source: Unsplash
The best online betting sites for boxing offer numerous payment options to get your money in and out of the site. Here’s a summary of the most popular ones
Debit card
One of the most popular methods of all. Most debit cards are either Visa or Mastercard while the use of credit cards at online boxing betting sites has been banned in the UK for quite a few years now.
Pros
- Most customers will already have a debit card so don’t need to go out and purchase a new payment option just in order to bet with it.
- State-of-the-art security features, such as EMV chip technology, secure the cardholder's data and reduce the likelihood of fraudulent transactions.
- Features like zero liability policies offer users protection against unauthorized transactions, providing a safety net in case of card theft or fraud.
Cons
- Some debit cards may involve transaction fees, particularly when they’re international transfers.
- Some cards have daily or weekly limits which may stop you from being able to make a particularly large deposit.
E-wallets (PayPal, Neteller. Skrill)
Quickly becoming one of the favoured payment options at online boxing betting sites, customers are becoming increasingly enamored with the speed and anonymity involved in using them.
Pros
- One of the quicker methods with transactions sometimes being instant.
- Extremely easy-to-use with transactions processed in two or three clicks.
- Financial details are encrypted and never shared with third parties during transactions, minimising the risk of fraud.
- Mostly free to use unless you use the e-wallet on an almost daily basis.
Cons
- E-wallets can occasionally suspend your account while they need to carry out security/anti money-laundering checks, which can be inconvenient if you’re looking to make an imminent deposit or withdrawal.
Live Boxing Betting In-Play
In play betting, or live betting if you prefer, means you can bet on the boxing match after it’s started and right until the bitter end.
Here are some of the benefits of betting on boxing in-play.
Get a feel for the fight
You might do all the prep in the world but once the fight gets underway, there’s no substitute for watching the action to see who has the upper hand.
Take advantage of wrong odds
Whereas pre-fight odds are generally ‘on the money’, live betting odds might not be as odds compilers may struggle to price up their in-play odds as well based on what is currently happening.
Use the Cash Out feature
By using the Cash Out option you can secure yourself a profit and better still, can decide to cash in on some of the money and let the rest ride by using the Partial Cash Out option, where available.
Betting on Professional Boxing vs Amateur Boxing
The vast majority of boxing matches available to bet on are disputed in a professional boxing context though of course, all boxing fights at the Olympics are strictly amateur. These are some of the key differences between the two:
Pro boxers get paid for every fight in appearance fees and/or in prize money; amateurs by definition, don’t.
Amateur boxers are often in the early stages of their boxing careers and take part in amateur fights as a way of gaining experience and exposure before turning pro in the future.
The number of rounds in professional boxing tends to be 10 whereas in amateur boxing it’s usually just three.
The scoring system is different. In pro boxing, judges score the fighters based on who they think won each round, whereas in amateur boxing they look at who landed the most punches over the course of the fight as a whole.
Pro v Amateur: Key differences in betting
One of the main differences when it comes to betting on one or the other is that there’s generally far more information available around pro boxers, especially when it comes to the biggest names, like Tyson Fury. That includes such things as their weight, fitness, any injuries or other factors. The flipside to that is that you’re more likely to have an edge over the sites to bet on boxing in amateur fights if you have access to privileged information that the bookies don’t.
As per above, the scoring system is completely different. An amateur boxer may land lots of punches without doing much damage, but they all count, whereas a pro boxer may win rounds by being more aggressive and having greater ring generalship.
Major Professional Boxing Belts
Four different major organisations sanction professional boxing bouts. They are…
WBA: The oldest of the four (founded in 1921), it’s headquartered in Panama and awards its world championship title at a professional level.
WBO: Around since 1988, it’s based in Puerto Rico. Every so often it awards an honorary title of ‘Super Champion’ to certain boxers in any weight division who fulfill a set of distinguished criteria. Super Champions of the WBO include Anthony Joshua, Wladimir Klitschko, Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya.
WBC: Established in 1963, it has 161 member countries, works out of Mexico City and has organised some of the most famous fights in boxing history. Tyson Fury is currently the WBC heavyweight champion.
IBF: Formed in 1983 and headquartered in New Jersey, USA, it’s the one of the four that has attracted the most controversy over the years including a scandal involving bribery in exchange for fighters being given higher rankings. Oleksandr Usyk is the current IBF heavyweight champ.
Promote Responsible Betting
A reminder that sports betting is meant to be fun and for entertainment, rather than for the purposes of winning money. Only a few select customers can actually make a living out of it.
All the best online boxing betting sites promote responsible gambling by having content on their site relating to it.
That includes self-assessment tests to see if you may have a gambling problem, tools that allow you to set limits on deposits and losses and time reminders that flag up when you’ve been logged in for a certain number of minutes/hours. By all means use these tools to ensure your gambling doesn’t get out of hand.
All boxing betting sites will also have links and contact details to charitable organisations such as Gambler’s Anonymous or GAMSTOP for you to contact if you feel you need some help.
FAQs
There probably won’t be loyalty programs that are just directly related to boxing bets. But many betting companies have loyalty programs that reward their more active users when it comes to bets placed on all sports. The more you wager, the more you get rewarded, including free bets, risk-free bets and reload bonuses.
Most online boxing betting sites have guides explaining how boxing markets work and the rules governing the different markets. Some sites also have blogs with educational content on how to play a particular market and even boxing betting tips ahead of the big fights.
The first step is to try to resolve the issue with the site itself by getting in touch with their Customer Support Team. If you can’t settle it this way, you can get in touch with the Independent Betting Adjudication Service (IBAS) with your grievance. They will pass judgment once they know the facts and their judgment is legally binding on registered UK operators.
Absolutely. Just about all betting sites for boxing will have a mobile product so you can use it to place bets, just as you would from a laptop or desktop.
Bank transfers, debit cards and e-wallets are all generally accepted at most betting sites, though some also accept the likes of Apple Pay or even cryptocurrencies.
All boxing sites have staff called odds compilers who set the odds on boxing matches based on rankings, recent form, their head-to-head record against that opponent (if they’ve fought before) and other factors.
Most betting sites will settle all their different markets within a few minutes of the fight ending. The winner market is always the first market to be settled with the other markets settled shortly after.
Here you’re betting on which round fighter A or B will win the match. For example, Fighter A to win in Round 6 might be a 10.0 chance. The market also has runners on whether Fighter A or B will win on points (after the fight does the distance) and the draw/technical draw, so that all eventualities are covered.