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Topics: Floyd Mayweather, Boxing, Sport
Ali Condon
Topics: Floyd Mayweather, Boxing, Sport
Floyd Mayweather and his entourage descended upon the O2 Arena for his UK debut this weekend, but fans weren't that interested, it would seem.
Mayweather took on Geordie Shore star Aaron Chalmers on Saturday night (25 February) in the half-empty 20,000 capacity stadium.
The former world champion was pretty casual about the exhibition, teasing his reality TV opponent for the majority of the fight and easily winning all eight rounds.
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But it would appear that fans took the fight just as seriously as Mayweather did, with very few bothering to turn up.
A broadcast of the night on Zeus TV seemed to focus directly on the ring, with no shots of the crowd - possibly to avoid drawing attention to the lack of attendees.
But photos and videos from those who did show up saw hundreds of empty seats across the arena.
Some reports even claim that one ticket agency had tried to flog leftover tickets to users for as little as £4.95 on the evening of the fight.
LADbible has contacted the O2 Arena for comment regarding ticket sales.
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At first neither Chalmers nor Mayweather acknowledged the relatively empty stadium, with Mayweather even thanking his 'unbelievable' UK fans after the eight round fight came to an end.
"I would like to thank all the UK fans. The fans are unbelievable. The UK is becoming the Mecca of boxing," said Floyd.
"Unbelievable fighters. I'm glad that I came… If the fans want me to come back, I'm coming back."
But later, in a post-fight press conference, Mayweather acknowledged the low attendance, blaming it on tickets going on sale too late.
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"We did this in one month - not even four weeks," he told press.
"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.
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"Here, we announced the fight and the tickets didn't go on sale until a week or two weeks later."
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He added: "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."
Since his retirement, the undefeated Mayweather has been taking part in a string of exhibition fights against the likes of Logan Paul and Deji Olatunji, primarily held in the Middle East.
After last night's turnout, it's anyone's guess whether or not the US boxer will bother returning to the UK.