Floyd Mayweather has put poor ticket sales for his latest exhibition down to British fight fans not wanting to spend money.
The recent hall of fame inductee has been rinsing the exhibition circuit for pay days and trips around the world, his latest being an eight-round contest with Aaron Chalmers.
Chalmers, best know for being a cast member on MTV’s Geordie Shore but more recently an MMA run and one pro boxing bout, didn’t take a step back, but he was outclassed from the first bell to the last.
Their main event was proceeded by a ridiculous affair including heavyweight Christopher Lovejoy and a co-main event between two female reality stars that doesn’t warrant any commentary.
One of the biggest takeaways was that the venue – London’s O2 Arena – was sparse with fans, the higher tiers closed off and a distinct lack of atmosphere.
In his post-fight presser, ‘Money’ Mayweather blamed a lack of time to sell the tickets as well as a key difference, in his mind, between American fans and those in the UK.
“We did this in one month – not even four weeks. I think the tickets should’ve went on sale a lot faster. My new team is still learning. I have got to take my hat off to them, it’s not their fault.
It’s just when we fight in the US, as soon as we announce the fight, tickets are on sale. Here, we announced the fight and the tickets didn’t go on sale until a week or two weeks later.
I don’t point fingers. We work together as a team. When you buy tickets over here, you don’t really want to spend money. In America we don’t mind spending money.”
Mayweather likely won’t let the low turnout stunt his exhibition career, but he may want to think about the promotion – and value – of the next event to make sure the same doesn’t happen again.