Jake Paul’s fight against Nate Diaz on Saturday did near-record betting numbers at DraftKings.
The fight was the second-most heavily bet boxing match in the history of the sportsbook, according to ESPN’s David Purdum. Accounting for total number of bets and money wagered, the match came in second only to April’s fight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia.
For further context of how much action the fight garnered, it attracted more than double the amount of bets as the entire six-fight card of UFC 291 at BetMGM the same night.
Love him or hate him, people clearly enjoy betting on Paul fights, including Drake, who lost $250,000 when Paul won by unanimous decision.
Drake has Nate Diaz beating Jake Paul tomorrow pic.twitter.com/lM1VwH3D3A
— Drake Fan Page (@DrakeDirect_) August 5, 2023
Jake Paul-Nate Diaz was the second-most heavily bet boxing match (most bets and money) in the history of @DKSportsbook (behind only Davis-Garcia April 2023).
Paul-Diaz attracted more than 2x as many bets as the entire six-fight card of Saturday's UFC 291 at @BetMGM sportsbooks.
— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) August 7, 2023
Raw betting numbers will naturally increase over the years as more states legalize sports betting, and that certainly plays a part in the recent records at DraftKings. But it can’t be ignored that both the Davis-Garcia and Paul-Diaz fights attracted more action than even Terrence Crawford-Errol Spence Jr. last month, which was billed as the biggest fight in years.
That likely has more to do with the social media presence of both Paul and Garcia — who have massive internet followings — and the spectacle of Paul, a YouTuber and co-founder of his own betting company, Betr, who boxes mostly non-boxers like Diaz, who is an MMA fighter.
