European sportsbooks seeing eye-popping betting numbers for McGregor vs. Mayweather

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Las Vegas is ramping up big-time for Saturday night's mega-boxing event between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor. Sportsbooks here and around the state of Nevada have seen eye-popping handle on this fight, and there will be plenty more money as all the tourists pile into Sin City over the next couple of days.

But this fight is playing very well across the pond, too, particularly in England and Ireland, where bettors are more commonly referred to as "punters." Lee Price, head of public relations for Ireland-based Paddy Power, provided perhaps the most eye-popping context.

"This bout is considerably bigger than the previous World Cup final," Price told Covers, alluding to the 2014 title match in soccer's largest spectacle, in which Germany beat Argentina 1-0 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Considering that soccer is the No. 1 sport in the world for betting, that says a lot about the drawing power of these dynamic personalities. Mayweather is arguably the best boxer of his generation, and McGregor has made a meteoric rise through the UFC ranks over the past few years.

"This fight is by far the biggest boxing event of all time, easily, for Paddy Power," Price said. "We expect more than £25 million ($34 million) to be staked on the event by our punters - more than three times the previous biggest boxing event for us, which was Mayweather versus (Manny) Pacquiao."

It's a similar story at England-based Ladbrokes, where Mayweather is currently a 1/4 favorite, while McGregor is a 3/1 underdog. Alex Apati, a PR spokesperson for Ladbrokes, said bettors are glad to have such a huge event to fill the void during the lazy days of late summer.

"As you can imagine, this fight has really caught the attention of punters in the U.K.," Apati said. "As is so often the case in these huge blockbuster bouts, the interest from a betting perspective is incredible. And with a quiet summer in the way of other sports - no major football (soccer) tournament taking place - we'd go as far as to say it's been the most popular event of the summer in terms of bets placed."

Also, not unlike the Vegas sportsbooks, both Paddy Power and Ladbrokes are seeing boatloads of wagers on McGregor, with more expected heading into Saturday's big bout at T-Mobile Arena. Price said 80 percent of the money at Paddy Power is on the Irishman, moving his odds from 8/1 to 10/3.

"Which may be part patriotism, part ridiculous optimism," Price said, echoing the sentiment of many who think McGregor - stepping out of his MMA comfort zone - will be well overmatched by Mayweather.

At Ladbrokes, there have been 10 times more bets placed on McGregor, with bettors just hoping to grab a big payout on the pup.

"The British public loves an optimistic gamble, especially on homegrown talent. That's including Irish fighters," Apati said, while noting another trend that mirrors what's taking place here in Vegas. "While (nearly) all of the bets are going on McGregor, all of the big stakes are going on Mayweather. We've taken several five-figure sum stakes on Mayweather, but just one on McGregor."

That one stake was a £10,000 bet ($12,800) on McGregor at 7/2, which would return a tidy total of 45,000 pounds ($57,700). But the folks at Ladbrokes aren't really wild about the prospect of paying on that McGregor bet, or any others on the Irishman - much like Ladbrokes' peers in Las Vegas.

Said Apati: "A McGregor victory is bad news for us, too."