As fight fans may be aware, all-time great Floyd Mayweather, indeed “T.B.E” by his own not too humble admission, will box his UK debut later on this month. Well, sort of. The bout will actually be an exhibition gig, the latest one in “Money’s” chosen manner of earning cash these days. Facing former reality TV star turned MMA fighter/boxer Aaron Chalmers at The O2 in London on February 25, Mayweather, 50-0, will, according to the critics, engage in his most cynical “fight” yet.
But the critics of the upcoming bout got a whole lot angrier when they found out the pay-per-view price-tag that is attached to the event. Get this – Mayweather Vs. Chalmers will set a UK fan back by £32.26, the fight to go out on the Zeus Network. As has been pointed out, this fee is higher than what a fan had to pay to watch the recent Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua world heavyweight title fights (which went out at £24.95 and, for the rematch, £26.95).
No wonder fans are angry at the greed being shown by the people behind Mayweather’s latest all but guaranteed easy night’s work that is being advertised as a competitive fight. With plenty of people groaning about how there are far too many PPV fights being put out there these days, the big question here is, who on earth will shell out over £30 – this during a time when there is a cost of living crisis being fought – to watch one of the finest defensive boxers of all time going up against a veritable novice?
The old saying suggests how ‘a sucker is born every minute.’ The promoters of the February 25 event had better hope this is still true. Otherwise this one will bomb; and quite deservedly as plenty of genuine fight fans would no doubt say. While it’s entirely possible that, without a good number of comps dished out, The O2, with its capacity of 20,000, will be pretty empty on fight night.
What do you guys think – has “Money” Mayweather raked in just about as much dough as his exhibition tour has to offer and is he pushing his luck with this one? Has Mayweather’s star power faded? Seriously, who can give Chalmers any sort of a chance of even landing a serious blow on Mayweather? To put it bluntly, this one sucks. And nobody should pay for it. No way. Save your money for the real fights that are set to come this way, dear fight fan. Not that you need me, or anyone else, to tell you that.