Retired boxing star Floyd Mayweather Jr. recently held an exhibition bout at the O2 Arena in London, England, which drew a disappointing turnout.
Mayweather faced off against Aaron Chalmers, a former MMA athlete and Geordie Shore star, in a match that wasn’t officially scored.
Despite dominating his opponent throughout the rounds, Mayweather expressed his disappointment over the lack of ticket sales, blaming the UK fans for not showing up in droves as Americans do.
Sportsmail revealed that a website called ShowFilmFirst, a known seat-filler site, was still trying to sell tickets for as little as $5.91 just hours before the bout.
Mayweather, who has had 5 exhibition matches since 2018, is no stranger to the lucrative world of exhibitions. He has a massive fanbase that supports him via pay-per-view purchases. However, his latest exhibition in London didn’t draw the same level of attention as his previous matches.
Mayweather’s team announced the event in London, but tickets didn’t go on sale until a week or two weeks later.
According to Mayweather, this delay might have contributed to the lack of ticket sales. He also criticized UK fans for not wanting to spend money on events like this. Mayweather compared the UK fans to Americans, who don’t mind spending money on events.
Mayweather’s comments might have a negative impact on his future events in the UK, which is a massive market for boxing and MMA.
“I would like to thank all the UK fans. The fans are unbelievable. The UK is becoming the Mecca of boxing.” Mayweather.
“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.” Mayweather said.
He added, “Here, we announced the fight and the tickets didn’t go on sale until a week or two weeks later. When you buy tickets over here, you don’t really want to spend money. In America we don’t mind spending money.”
UFC 286 (at the O2 arena in London) has the average ticket prices rank as second highest in sports. According to a study done by Slots Online Canada, the average ticket price to attend will be the highest for any sporting event in 2023 only behind only Super Bowl LVII at $4,460 each.
Getting so many messages about UFC London tickets today. Prices were scandalous from the get go, but what’s worse is people buying the tickets up just to sell them at a higher rate again. The worst thing about MMA going mainstream is that MMA fans are priced out of UFC events.
— Peter Carroll (@PetesyCarroll) January 26, 2023
In another post displaying the ticket page, the lowest bracket is listed as £344.95-£481.80 ($424.87-$593.43), with the highest-priced tickets reaching £4,581.25 ($5642.73).
The UK has produced several boxing stars, including Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, and Lennox Lewis. Many boxing events held in the UK have been hugely successful. This appears to be the case of Mayweather’s popularity and bad promotional skills more than anything.