THE undercard of Floyd Mayweather vs Aaron Chalmers was delayed for half an hour at a virtually empty O2 Arena tonight.
That’s after promoters struggled to sell tickets for Saturday’s exhibition bout in London.
Mayweather is fighting for the first time in the UK after retiring with a perfect 50-0 record.
Ex-Geordie Shore star and MMA fighter Chalmers stepped in after Mayweather’s original opponent Liam Harrison pulled out.
But punters were not left convinced by the quick-fire announcement.
And plenty of tickets were still on sale for the event last night, with thousands of seats in the 20,000-capacity arena available.
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Some boxing fans were even offered 20 per cent discounts as promoters desperately attempted to offload tickets.
Yet that too did not tempt punters, with the O2 barely filled when the undercard was meant to start at 8pm.
Even bars on the usually packed concourse and the entrance to the arena were virtually empty.
And with so little bums on seats, kick-off was delayed until 8.30pm to allow more fans to drift in ahead of the main event.
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Regular prices for tickets ranged from around £141.50 to £1,038,50.
But even a discount did little to convince fans it would be a worthwhile purchase.
Indeed, even the event livestream didn’t start until 8.15pm, half an hour after it was meant to be up.
And it wasn’t until 8.30pm when the first fight between Sammy-Jo Luxton and Hayley Heather started.
Punters had to pay £24.88 to watch the event on The Zeus Network.
The main fight between Mayweather and Chalmers is scheduled to start at 10.30pm.
But it remains to be seen if it gets pushed back following the late start on the undercard.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
