With a number of high profile fights taking place in recent years, and with Katie Taylor set to take on Amanda Serrano this weekend, interest in boxing as a betting market has never been higher.
Speaking with Insider Sport, Chad Yeomans, Head of Communications and PR at Betway Group, discussed increased betting engagement with women’s boxing, but noted that more events such as Saturday’s clash are needed to boost the profile of the sport to continue this momentum.
SBC – Women’s sport has been booming in recent years. Have you seen parallels between women’s boxing and women’s football in their popularity as betting markets?
Chad Yeomans – Professional women’s boxing is still in its infancy, really. The talent pool is just not there at the moment, but in time, and given TV exposure, it will improve. For every very competitive fight like Taylor v Serrano, there are still far too many mismatches on a weekly basis.
SBC – How significant are bouts such as this in promoting women’s boxing as a betting market as well as a popular sport? Has the sport been historically overlooked as a betting market to an extent in comparison to men’s boxing?
CY – This is a very rare and closely matched fight; as close to a 50/50 fight in women’s boxing on ability. So yes, the sport definitely needs more fights like this in order to boost its profile. Women’s boxing is way behind women’s MMA when it comes to how competitive the fights are.
It wasn’t that women’s boxing was overlooked in betting terms, until very recently, women’s boxing was generally ignored by TV broadcasters, which has hindered its profile. The more popular a sport is, the more people will be interested in it. The betting revenue will follow with the popularity.
SBC – Are you seeing increased engagement with women’s boxing among bettors due to high profile fighters such as Katie Taylor?
CY – Taylor is certainly the highest profile in terms of betting when it comes to women’s boxing. However, it does all depend on the cards that the fights end up being on and also how competitive they are in terms of betting.
Hopefully if Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall gets made later this year, there will be big interest in that fight from a betting perspective.
SBC – Are you anticipating higher than average turnover with the broadcast of the upcoming Serrano Vs Taylor clash?
CY – Katie Taylor is always popular and does feature in the top three turnover women’s fights we have had; two fights against Persoon and the other versus Natasha Jonas.
It will be a struggle to match the turnover we had on those three fights as those fights were all on undercards of big Sky Box Office cards. The Matchroom switch to DAZN has seen a sharp downturn in interest in their fights.
