The gambling industry has gradually become a part of our lives whether we like it or not. Almost each and every one of us has made a bet not only on online casinos or sports events, but even on little things like what movie is going to win the Academy Award for Best Picture or who’s going to get the iron throne on Games of Thrones.
Even celebrities enjoy this activity, some more than others. Floyd Mayweather has earned a reputation for his love of gambling and one might say even for his self confidence when he attempted to place a C$400.000 bet on himself before his match against Conor McGregor.
Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. is an American professional boxer who is known for its record of consecutive wins. More exactly 26 wins in world title fights, 23 in lineal title fights, 24 against former or current world titles, 12 against former or current lineal champions and 2 wins against International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees. With all these accomplishments, it is only natural for him to feel unbeatable and the feud with Conor McGregor made it even more obvious.
Everything has started way back in 2015 when McGregor began throwing the first jabs and it has never stopped until the two of them faced each other in the ring in 2017. So, it’s easy to understand why Mayweather attempted to bet C$400.000 on himself to knock out McGregor. With his thirst of gambling combined with the rage against his opponent, things couldn’t have gone any other way as the boxer was confident of his impending victory.
But, it wasn’t the fact that he tried to gamble on himself, rather than the way he wanted to do it. He wanted to place the bet on winning the fight in under 9.5 rounds, which he did. This came with -200 odds and because of this, there were concerns of legality regarding a fighter gambling on anything else other than a straight win.
Due to the fact that this concern caused delays, Mayweather then attempted to stake on himself to win by knockout. Still, there are sources which are saying that in the end, he didn’t make any bet as he had to wait to place a wager.
After the fight, Floyd Mayweather has reportedly earned $275 million from the fight and McGregor just $85 million. If he would have been able to place that $400.000 bet, without any doubt he would have been, once again, at the top of Forbes’ list of the best-paid athletes.
