People Are Actually Betting on Conor McGregor to Beat Floyd Mayweather

Speak to any rational thinking person and they will tell you that Conor McGregor doesn't stand a chance of winning his upcoming bout against Floyd Mayweather in August. Whether you want to point to the fact that McGregor has never competed in a professional boxing match or that Mayweather retired from the sport two years ago with a perfect 49-0 record, it's easy to assume that after both fighters leave the ring, Floyd will notch his 50th career win.

Even with the odds stacked up against McGregor, bettors are still placing bids towards the UFC Lightweight champion. According to ESPN, 140 of the first 144 bets at the Caesars Palace sportsbooks were placed on McGregor, which was paying back around 5-1. This contrarian play has closed the gap in terms of odds between the two. When the official announcement was made, the odds stood at -1100 for the favorite Mayweather versus +700 for underdog McGregor. Now, the odds are a much closer -600 Mayweather vs. +400 McGregor.

As irrational as this approach may seem, 79 percent of the overall money is still being put up for Mayweather. People may be crazy, but they aren't that crazy. The seemingly lopsided bout hasn't stopped people from putting up a decent amount of coin for one side or the other. More money has been put towards this fight over the last two days as opposed to all the betting on last night's Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev fight.

Mayweather and McGregor will square off on August 26 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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