Heavy odds favoring Fury for first time vs. Wilder

• Joined ESPN in 2014
• Journalist covering gambling industry since 2008

This time, Tyson Fury is the favorite — and a big one.

Fury is a -280 favorite over Deontay Wilder in their WBC heavyweight title bout, according to Caesars Sportsbook. Wilder is a +230 underdog for Saturday’s fight in Las Vegas (9 p.m. ET, ESPN+ PPV).

It’s the third meeting between the two heavyweights, and the first in which Fury has been the favorite. Wilder was the favorite in the first meeting in 2018, which ended in a split draw, and again in the 2020 rematch that Fury won by TKO in the seventh round.

Entering Saturday, nearly 80% of the money that had been wagered on the fight at Caesars Sportsbook was on Fury, highlighted by a $265,000 bet on the favorite at -265 odds.

The action has varied at other sportsbooks. BetMGM reported Saturday morning that 64.6% of money wagered was on Wilder. The SuperBook said it received a $10,000 bet on Wilder at +250, and Circa Sports also reported taking some early action on the underdog.

“Overall, the action is definitely picking up,” Nick Kalikas, risk supervisor for Circa Sports, told ESPN on Friday. “We did see a lot of straight bets on Wilder earlier. Now, as we’re getting closer to the fight, there is an uptick of action both ways. We did see some sharp action, some max bets on Tyson Fury, as of late.”

At sportsbooks in the United Kingdom, where Fury is from, the betting action was evenly divided, according to OddsChecker.com, a site that tracks betting markets internationally and in the United States.

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