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THERE'S A MIDDLE IN THE LEWIS-RAHMAN FIGHT
Posted April 21, 2001
By Charles Jay, Editor/Publisher, TotalAction.com
Lennox Lewis defends his heavyweight championship of the world later tonight against
Baltimore's Hasim Rahman, and the fight, as expected, is drawing action from bettors
around the world. Because Lewis is such a prohibitive favorite, many of the interested
players have focused in on the over/under propositions and the round betting, which are
being carried by plenty of online sportsbooks.
But on the straight line to win the fight there rests an opportunity for bettors. A
"middle" or "scalp" exists in the fight; that is, a situation where you can bet both sides
of the fight (assuming there is a winner) and be in a winning position, no matter what. As
of 3 PM Eastern time on Saturday, William Hill bookmakers (http://www.williamhill.co.uk)
had Lewis a -1250 favorite (listed at 1.08), where, in their parlance, for every $1 bet a
return of eight cents (.08) would be returned on Lewis. BetInternet (http://www.betinternet.com) has Lewis at the same price. Meanwhile, at four different
sources we found - Olympic Sports (http://www.thegreek.com), Online Sportsbook
(http://www.onlinesportsbook.com), Gameday
(http://www.gamedaysportsbook.com), and Grand
Central Sportsbook (http://www.gcsports.com) - Rahman is listed at +1500, meaning that if
he wins, for every $1 bet, you will get back $15 profit. Between the -1250 and the +1500,
therein lies the middle.
Here is how it works, in simplified terms:
Let's say you were to bet $1250 at William Hill on Lewis, looking to get back your
original $1250, plus win a profit of $100. Then you went to any of the four sources above
(or other sources that might exist), and bet, say, $85 on Rahman at 15/1, which would
bring you back $1360 ($1275 payoff, plus your original $85).
You total cash outlay is $1335. In your LEWIS scenario, you get back $1350, for a profit
of $15. In your RAHMAN scenario, you would get back $1360, a profit of $25. Those are not
big figures, but they DO represent an edge, which is what every bettor, we assume, is
looking for.
Of course, you can get involved with multiples of those bet figures, but obviously you
must make sure it's the same multiple for both sides. Yeah, you'll get beat if the fight
winds up a draw (best odds we found on that were 66/1 at SportingOdds.com
(http://www.sportingodds.com) and BlueSQ
(http://www.bluesq.com). But I think you'd agree
that chance is worth a shot.
.............Some of the books have moved their over/under propositions on Lewis-Rahman
from 5-1/2 or 6-1/2 rounds to 4-1/2 rounds. So as a result, the "total rounds"
props vary. For example, English Sports Betting (http://www.telebet.com) has the fight at
6-1/2 rounds, with the "under" at -145 and the "over" at +105. V-Wager
(http://www.v-wager.com) has their total at 4-1/2 rounds, with the "over" at
-130 and the "under" at even money.
.......Round betting varies from book to book. For example, at Paddy Power
(http://www.paddypower.com), if you like Lewis to blow out Rahman early, you can get 11/2
for a first-round Lewis KO. Lewis is 9/2 to win a points decision. Rahman is 80-1 to knock
out Lewis in Rounds 1,2,3,4, and 5, and 100/1 in every round after that. If you think
Rahman can win a decision, you can get 20/1 odds. At SportingOdds.com, you can get 7/1 for
a first-round Lewis KO, 40/1 for an 11th-round KO, and 50/1 for a final round knockout. At
SportingOdds, Rahman is 100/1 to score a knockout in each of the 12 scheduled rounds.
........There are propositions on the overall outcome of the fight. For example,
SportingOdds has Lewis at 1/5 to win the fight by knockout, and 4/1 to win a decision,
while Rahman is 10/1 to upset Lewis by knockout and 20/1 to win a decision.
Of course - and this goes without saying - the numbers are subject to change. And some of
them have probably changed while I was writing this. For best results, as always, shop
around. And remember, we're just reporting; we don't necessarily endorse any of the
sportsbooks mentioned here.
Best of luck tonight.
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