If you're a boxing fan looking to get in on the action of an upcoming fight night, you may be wondering how to bet on the combat sport.

There are many ways to wager on boxing, which can make it a little overwhelming at first glance. Every fight has a number of different markets to bet on besides picking the winner of the bout. This means you'll have to decide which one is the best for the tilt in question.

In this guide, we'll review some of the popular markets to give you an enhanced understanding of how to bet on boxing.

How to bet on boxing

Outright bets are the most common ways to bet on a fight. Simply put, a successful outright bet involves predicting which boxer will win the fight.

This style of bet is boxing's equivalent to a moneyline. The method of victory for a boxer (knockout, disqualification, or decision) is irrelevant in an outright bet.

For an outright bet, both boxers will be listed with odds. The favourite to win the fight will have a minus (-) symbol in front his/her odds, while the underdog will have a plus (+) symbol. For example, when Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin had their rematch in 2018, the odds looked like this:

Canelo Alvarez (+125)
Gennady Golovkin (-145)

If you bet on Alvarez, a $100 wager would've won $125. A $145 stake on Golovkin, meanwhile, was required for a win of $100.

Fight outcome

Similar to outright bets, fight outcomes require you to pick who you believe will be the winner of the fight. The difference is that fight outcome wagers also require you to predict the correct method of victory.

That means picking the winner of the match, as well as whether they'll win by KO, TKO, or DQ, or by decision or technical decision. Bettors can also wager on the fight ending in a draw or technical draw.

The odds for each option will vary from fight to fight. The status of the favourite, as well as his/her track record as a fighter, will impact the odds. If a boxer is known to win often via knockout, that'll likely shorten their odds to win by that method. But if most of a boxer's fights go to decision, however, that'll impact their odds to win by that method.

For example, when super middleweights Daniel Jacobs and John Ryder fought this past February, the fight outcome odds for their bout looked like this:

By KO, TKO, or disqualification
Jacobs (+375), Ryder (+500)

By decision or technical decision
Jacobs (+120), Ryder (+275)

Draw or technical draw
Jacobs (+1400), Ryder (+1400)

In this instance, if you thought Jacobs was a strong bet to win by knockout, a $100 wager would've won $375. Additionally, a $100 stake on Jacobs to win by decision would've netted $120.

On the other hand, $100 wagers on Ryder to win by knockout or decision could've won $500 and $275, respectively. A $100 bet on the fight to end in a draw or technical draw came with a $1,400 payout.

Round betting

In addition to fight outcome betting, you can make round betting wagers. Round betting works just how it sounds — to win, you must correctly predict which round the fight will end in.

Most boxing matches consist of 12 rounds. When making your wager, you'll have the option to bet on the winner plus the winning round, or just the winning round. You'll also have the option to bet on the fight going the distance, which means it goes to a decision.

Due to the variance involved with determining the final round, each round receives plus odds. For the Jacobs-Ryder fight noted above, the odds for round betting without picking the winner ranged from +1600 to +6600.

If you were to bet on the fight going to a decision, however, the odds were listed at -275.

How to bet on boxing total rounds

For those familiar with betting on the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB, you'll find betting on total rounds to be very similar to game totals. Like game totals, there's a set line for total rounds, and you have the option to bet over or under that total.

Depending on the fight, the odds by round will vary. Continuing with the Jacobs-Ryder example, because the competitors are considered to be fairly equal, there was plus money on each round's under. That was a result of the implied likelihood of this fight doing to decision.

Here is an example of how a total rounds bet would be presented at a sportsbook:

2.5 total rounds: over -6600, under +2000
3.5 total rounds: over -3300, under +1400
4.5 total rounds: over -2000, under +1000
5.5 total rounds: over -1200, under +700
6.5 total rounds: over -800, under +500
7.5 total rounds: over -600, under +400
8.5 total rounds: over -450, under +300
9.5 total rounds: over -400, under +275
10.5 total rounds: over -334, under +240

With each round added, the payout for a bet on the under decreases, while the payout for a bet on the over increases.