Eric Uribe
Boxing is one of the most-tenured sports at the Summer Olympic Games, first taking place in 1904 and then occurring in every competition since (except 1912). That legacy carries for the 2020 edition with 13 different gold medals up for grabs in the sport. This article includes the best bets to win boxing gold in some of those competitions.
The boxing events include men (eight) and women (five). The latter group has only been an Olympic tradition since 2012 when they were first instituted. Weight classes that are part of the mix start with flyweight and scale up as high as super heavyweight (men) and middleweight (women).
Boxing Betting Pick — Men Heavyweight
First thing is first, online sportsbooks have a bevy of Olympic boxing betting odds currently available across all competitions. For the purpose of this article, we’re only highlighting our personal favorites bets. With that said, we start with the fan-favorite class, heavyweight. Here’s who is currently favored to win gold among the group:
| Boxer |  |  |
| Muslim Gadzhimagomedov (ROC) | -300 | -300 |
| Julio Cesar La Cruz (Cuba) | +300 | +300 |
| David Nyika (New Zealand) | +800 | +800 |
| Abner Teixeira (Brazil) | +2200 | +2200 |
In a shocker, we’re picking Cesar De La Cruz to deliver gold to Cuba — not Gadzhimagomedov. At 31 years old, he’s one of the more experienced fighters in the sport. With that age comes grizzled experience few others possess outside of De La Cruz. The Cuban previously won gold in 2016, only that came in light heavyweight.
Now moving up in weight (that better suits his naturally large frame), De La Cruz is chasing history. Only six boxers have previously won gold in two different weight classes. Our money says the Cuban becomes “lucky number seven” as they say in gambling.
Boxing Betting Pick — Men Lightweight
From one Cruz in Cuba to another Cruz in Cuba. The country has another boxing prodigy with the same partly-shared surname, only this one is the outright betting favorite in his respective lightweight class.
| Boxer | | |
| Andy Cruz (Cuba) | -165 | -165 |
| Keyshawn Davis (USA) | +330 | +330 |
| Hovhannes Bachkov (Armenia) | +700 | +700 |
| Elnur Abduraimov (Uzbekistan) | +1400 | +1400 |
We’re again picking a Cruz to take home the gold. He’s proven himself before in this class at the World Championships, winning gold both in 2017 and 2019. Matter of fact, in the latter competition, he trounced betting runner-up Davis so you can see he “has his number” (he also defeated him in the Pan American Games). At only -165, we think his price is a bargain for as an accomplished fighter as he is.
Boxing Betting Pick — Women Middleweight
On to the women’s side where the middleweight gold is one of the closer bets available. Here are the odds-on favorites to win it:
| Boxer | |  |
| Lauren Price (Great Britain) | +100 | +100 |
| Qian Li (China) | +300 | +300 |
| Nouchka Fontijn (Netherlands) | +350 | +350 |
| Zenfira Magomedalieva (ROC) | +650 | +650 |
Here again, we’re backing the favorite, the 27-year-old Price, to lay claim to gold. In fact, getting her at even money is a bargain in its own right.
Price hasn’t lost an amateur boxing fight since 2018. Since then, she’s been on an absolute tear in the division. That includes a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games — which was actually the first for a Polish woman in the event. Gold once again feels in her sights in Japan.
How To Watch Boxing At The 2020 Olympics
Due to the nature of fighting, matchups are spread out to give boxers the proper time to recover. Therefore, boxing has been ongoing since the Olympics began in late July. However, we’re about to see a host of medals handed out for the different weight classes over the next week.
The first weight class that wraps up is women’s featherweight and men’s welterweight on August 3. From then on until August 8, at least one gold medal will be decided every single day.
Listing the remaining schedule for all 13 boxing weight classes is an article in itself. We won’t list them here, but just now, those in the United States can watch the action mainly on two avenues. The first is traditional TV channels like the USA Network and NBC Sports Network. The second is streaming on the Peacock app.
US-based broadcasts are primarily airing on tape delay due to the huge time difference between here and Japan. So you’ll likely know gold medal winners as soon as you wake up in the mornings but then watch the fights later that day on delay.
How To Bet Boxing At The 2020 Olympics
For bettors, the wee-hour fight times mean you want to get your bets in early, perhaps as soon as now. You don’t want to wake up to find out you missed out on a winner by not wagering it. To avoid this mistake, drop a bet at any one of the sportsbooks listed below as soon as you read this.
Dropping a bet now also has another giant perk — earning hundreds to thousands of dollars in free play right away. That’s completely doable by taking advantage of sign-up bonuses offered by the bookies, most of which have one readily available (the table underneath has promo details). To earn the bonus, just create an account and fund it. The deposit you make is what determines your exact free play bonus.
Bonus funds can be wagered on any Olympic event, whether it’s boxing or another sport. The choice is completely yours but you won’t find a better avenue for quickly building a betting bankroll than promotional bonuses. To claim your bonus in time for the boxing championship matchups, just hit the “play now” button below.
