Tonight (15 November), all eyes will be on Arlington, Texas where influencer turned boxer Jake Paul takes on the former baddest man on the planet Mike Tyson, in a hotly-anticipated, and highly criticised, boxing match.

Ahead of the bout, Jessica Welman, Editor of SBC Americas, and Joe Streeter, Editor of CasinoBeats, sat down on the latest episode of iGaming Daily to discuss betting activity on the event, as well as integrity concerns in the US.

This fight is just the latest in the growing trend of influencer boxing. YouTube stars such as KSI and Logan Paul, Jake Paul’s brother, have taken part in high-profile boxing fights.

Critics of the growth of the sector say that it is detrimental to the sport of boxing, however, fans argue that it helps bring new eyes to the sport. 

On the rise of influencer boxing, Joe said: “There was this weird thing where they kind of tried to justify some of these fights by putting prospects on the undercard and saying that the fan base these traditional fighters are going to get just by being on the undercard of a Jake Paul fight is monumental. 

“They don’t stick around. If you’re a Jake Paul fan you’re not going to subsequently become a Katie Taylor fan because she was on the undercard. It doesn’t work like that. Also, when Jake Paul first came around bringing all this money, and media attention, into the sport, boxing did need that injection.

“Right now, boxing doesn’t need that injection because the Saui influence on boxing is monumental. We’ve seen a real shift in the sport of boxing. This influencer boxing is like circus boxing, it’s a whole different beast.”

Sportsbooks, such as BetMGM, are predicting “massive numbers” for wagering on the fight and Joe explained that Tyson’s odds to win the fight have dropped as the fight nears.

Additionally, Jess added, as well as Tyson fans there are also anti-Jake Paul fans who want to bet against him.

She said: “This is equally enticing for the anti-Jake Paul fans. It’s not often somebody irks you and there’s a chance you can watch someone hit them in the face. There is a certain amount of appeal that comes with that.”

Despite this interest, there have been concerns in some quarters regarding the integrity of the fight. Although sanctioned as a professional fight, the bout is being contested over two-minute rounds using 14-ounce gloves, rather than the standard three-minute rounds and 10-ounce gloves. 

As a result, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Colorado have all blocked sportsbooks offering markets on the fight.

Jess added that another area of concern is that Jake Paul is the proprietor of Betr, a sportsbook in Ohio and Virginia. Additionally, Betr Picks, Betr’s fantasy site, is running “huge promotions” around the fight.

“To me, this seems not ok,” said Jess. “If you can stand to potentially profit from this, depending on your performance and you work at the place and can theoretically take a gander and see where the money coming in on, I don’t particularly like it.”

“I would think if Betr were in more states, for example, if Betr was in Massachusetts, they would be like absolutely not. On the DFS side of things, they’re largely offering Betr Picks in states where DFS is unregulated. They have some states where it’s the regulated version but there’s no oversight.”

“As much as I get that he’s making a boatload of money and I doubt that this would be anything other than a drop in the bucket, the optics of it are terrible to me.”

To end the episode, Joe was asked to offer his predictions for what he expects to see on fight night.

He said; “I think it’s going to be watched by so many people. The eyes of the world are going to be on this on Friday night. This is just attracting mass audiences. As much as I don’t like Jake Paul, kudos for the business side of it.

“My heart says Mike Tyson will roll back the years. He’s going to come out, bob and weave, and ice him like it’s 1995. My head though tells me a very different story. Jake is a big lump and he can whack.

“Mike is a very old guy. The first thing that goes is the chin and as soon as Jake Paul lands on that 58-year-old chin, I don’t think it’s going to be a good story. I think Mike’s head is going to tell his body to do things it just can’t do. I think it’s going to be a rough watch if I’m honest.”