Boxing Odds: Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Betting Preview, Fight Stats

Floyd Mayweather is considered the best pound-for-pound boxer of this era with a 47-0 all-time record, and he has won each of his last five fights by decision. Mayweather will get one of the toughest tests of his career on Saturday, May 2 against Manny Pacquiao.

Mayweather is a -210 favorite to win the big bout according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Pacquiao would pay +170 on an upset of the pound-for-pound king.

The line on the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao matchup has remained pretty steady over the last few months, and that is mainly due to the even action that both sides are receiving. Kevin Bradley, the Sportsbook Manager at Bovada, stated that "at our current line we are seeing a pretty even 50/50 split of money, but with Pacquiao paying out almost 2/1 the risk is growing on him and no question we will need Mayweather."

Many boxing fans and analysts see the fight going one of two ways; either the technically precise and methodical Floyd Mayweather does what he has over his last five fights and defends his way to a decision victory, or Manny Pacquiao delivers one big punch to score an elusive knockout win over Mayweather.

While Pacquiao is known for his heavy punches with 38 career knockouts, it is worth noting that each of Manny's last seven wins have come via decision. A Pacquiao knockout win would pay +400 while a decision win would pay +375 at the sportsbooks.

While a Mayweather decision win seems to be the fight's most likely scenario at -140, it is actually what the sportsbooks are hoping for. "Props will determine a big part of how we do on the fight", Bradley says. "Ideally we will need Mayweather by decision which is currently priced at -140. A first-round knockout by Manny would be a disaster."

With most props veering towards neither fighter being knocked down (one fighter getting knocked down is a +160 underdog to neither at -200), a Pacquiao knockout would pay hundreds of underdog bets to the public.

Bradley indicated that this fight has already taken on far more money in bets than any other fight he's seen since he's been in the business. This really is the "fight of the century" for fans and bettors alike.