Mike Tyson remains favourite, but Cloudbet customers turn their backs on Saturday’s boxing circus

• Savvy bettors shun Tyson vs Jones Jnr exhibition
• Value of Cloudbet’s market so far less than 1% of McGregor vs Mayweather fight
• Celebrity undercard bout featuring Disney star Jake Paul and ex NBA point guard Nate Robinson attracts 12x number of bets
• Almost 50x amount of money wagered on Paul v Robinson than on Tyson v Jones with the bitcoin betting pioneers

The Covid-hit sports calendar of 2020 might have thrown up a number of surprise hits with global betting enthusiasts but it seems the forthcoming Mike Tyson vs Roy Jones Jnr bout is not destined to be one of them.

Belarussian football, Taiwanese basketball, League of Legends… at different times, these all caught fire with sports bettors, but this high-profile boxing exhibition seems unable to land a knockout punch. Back in 2017 the match-up between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jnr, hyped as “The biggest fight in combat sport history”, or more simply, “The Money Fight”, totally lived up to its billing, making it the biggest betting event in Cloudbet’s history by number of players.

Fight promoters Triller, a social media app spending millions to try and compete with Tik Tok, hoped to replicate this excitement, and gave it a whopping $49.99 pay per view price tag. But bettors think you must be punchdrunk to get involved, likening it to that Tiger Woods vs Phil Mickelson PPV head-to-head back in 2018, which proved a waste of time for all except the two golfers, who netted a huge payday.

Roy Jones Jnr’s team has been bigging up their man’s fitness and “evolution” as a fighter, while Tyson, who last set foot in the ring in 2005, claims his recent persona of a weed-smoking peacenik will be a distant memory the second he gets his gloves on. But, with both Tyson and Jones Jnr the other side of 50, the fight is being held on special exhibition rules – such as “hard sparring” only, no knockouts and the threat of just a cut precipitating an immediate stop from the referee – the only thing to look out for is if these two legends of the ring remember they’re not supposed to be fighting for real.

The bout between the two aging ex-heavyweight world champions takes place on Saturday at Staples Centre, Los Angeles, on a bizarre card which also features a former NBA star, Nate Robinson, facing YouTuber-turned- Disney Channel star (and Triller investor) Jake Paul.

Cloudbet’s customer base just aren’t buying into this seniors’ day out and haven’t spent much time searching for Tyson vs Jones odds. Twelve times the number of bets have been taken on the Jake Paul vs Nate Robinson fight, with almost 50 x as much turnover in this market, compared with wagers on Tyson vs Jones Jnr.

Founded in 2013, Cloudbet is one of the world’s longest established bitcoin betting operators, and will be running winner’s and total rounds markets on this fight and its undercards. Besides bitcoin, Cloudbet accepts ethereum, bitcoin cash and a number of stablecoins including USD Tether and USD Circle.

New customers gagging for bitcoin odds for boxing can get a bet on Tyson or Jones Jnr through an easy sign-up process and on-site cryptocurrency purchases with a credit card. Iron Mike is favored, by the way, at 1.53 (- 187).

So why have these two legendary boxers agreed to something that could leave their reputations on the ropes? Another ex-champion George Foreman has been in the media saying he thinks he knows. “It’s temporary insanity. I liken it to a guy who wants to get on a boat and go out to sea. It seems like so much fun, so peaceful, so he wants to get out there and do it. Then he gets out there and the big waves start coming and the sea is rough and it’s raining and the wind is blowing and he asks himself: “Lord, why did I ever do this?”

Anyone stumping up the $49.99 fee to watch this may well end up asking themselves the same question.