Barstool’s Dave Portnoy Listed as Big Underdog in Potential Fight with Bob Menery

• Barstool president Dave Portnoy has been challenged to a celebrity boxing match by Bob Menery. 
• Their bad blood dates back to 2010 when Menery claimed he worked for Barstool while acting like a doofus at a college party. 
• While calling Menery a “celebrity” is a stretch, bettors can still put real money on who would win and whether the fight will take place.

Back in 2010, comedian(?) Bob Menery had an audition of sorts to become an employee of Barstool Sports. Barstool president Dave Portnoy gave Menery a bunch of Barstool merchandise to hand out at colleges, and what happened next is kind of unclear.

Portnoy says that Menery went to a college party, claimed he worked for Barstool in order to get girls to take their shirts off, and was generally a massive ******.

Menery doesn’t really seem to dispute that. Instead, he basically argues that Portnoy is being persnickety if he’s going to draw a line between giving Menery Barstool merchandise to give away and “working” for Barstool.

However this feud started, a couple things are clear: (1) it’s still going, and (2) Menery wants to settle it with a boxing match at Rough ‘N Rowdy, the amateur boxing promotion Barstool bought in 2017.

While Portnoy was quick to pour cold water on the idea, there are a couple of props for the potential matchup, including odds to win and odds that the fight actually takes place.

Menery vs Portnoy Fight Odds

The second prop sets the odds on the fight actually happening at a very long +2000 (4.8% chance). It does not allow you to wager on “NO” at this point in time.

Tale of the Tape: Portnoy vs Menery

That said, if you can part with a portion of your bankroll for six weeks, there is value on betting Portnoy to win. (If the fight doesn’t take place, you’ll get your money back.)

There is no reliable information on the height or weight of either would-be combatant right now. From online videos, Menery seems a bit bigger and probably has a little more natural athleticism. But there’s little to choose between the two on that front.Here’s why Portnoy is the play: Menery is pushing for a fight in a promotion that Portnoy effectively owns. I’m not suggesting that the fix would be in, but if this fight happens, it’s going to be on Portnoy’s terms. Being the “A side” in a boxing match leads to certain practical advantages.

Just look at what happened with the Floyd Mayweather vs Tenshin Nasukawa Rizin fight. When it was first announced, the rules were still TBD. The big question was whether it would be MMA rules, kickboxing rules, boxing rules, or some mix.

Strangest Breaking Fight News Of The Year:

Floyd Mayweather will fight 20-year old kickboxing champion, Tenshin Nasukawa, on New Years Eve at the Saitama Super Arena, Japan. Rules – TBD. pic.twitter.com/dqpxernmFF

— Ryan Evans (@RyanEvans87) November 5, 2018

The lack of information led to drastically different odds at various online sportsbooks. Mayweather was a -260 favorite, while you could also find Nasukawa elsewhere as a -140 favorite.

As I advised then, taking Mayweather as an underdog was the value play. He didn’t run his boxing record to an unblemished 50-0 by taking stupid risks. He was never going to agree to an MMA/kickboxing match with a 20-year-old kickboxing phenom.

Lo and behold, he didn’t.

Portnoy may not be the contractual goliath that Mayweather is, but I’ll reiterate what I said above: if this fight happens, it will be on Portnoy’s terms. That makes +150 reasonable value.