Floyd Mayweather’s tenure as an exhibition fighter might be over after his latest fight saw a near record-low in attendance numbers. His opponent, Aaron Chalmers, was a well-known participant of the popular UK reality TV show, Geordie Shore, but even he didn’t seem to be able to draw the amount of crowds that would see the stadium filled up. Empty seats allowed those in attendance to move closer up the ring – and occupy seats usually reserved for VIP’s, and showed the stark reality of Floyd’s dwindling popularity. Their fight was held at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday, February 25, and included no official scores or results.
Empty seats are a high irregularity for the 50-0 fighter who has spent more than two decades filling up stadiums with his rambunctious and super confident behavior outside of the ring. Complemented with world-class boxing skills that have yet to be matched by anyone in the modern era, Floyd Mayweather had been one of the highest-grossing fighters – if not the highest-grossing fighter – in the past decade, and even after his retirement in 2017 was still popular enough to rake in millions in exhibition fights against complete novices.
This all seems to have changed overnight following Mayweather’s match with Aaron Chalmers. Chalmers, still sporting a record of 1-0 in professional boxing, had his best stint as a MMA fighter. He accumulated a record of 7-2 (with 3 wins coming by way of submission, 2 by knockout) while participating for the MMA organizations of Bellator and BAMMA. Following a unanimous decision loss in 2020 at Bellator 240, the Geordie Star transitioned to professional boxing and made his debut in June of 2022 where he beat his opponent – Alexander Zeledon – in a four-round match on points.
Mayweather’s fight with Chalmers was barely promoted in the weeks leading up to the fight, and though he attended the official press conference prior to the bout, he did not attend the weigh-in. Ticket sales were already low prior to the press conference, and reports surfaced of tickets being sold for £5 on the day of the fight, yet seats were barely filled on fight night. More staggeringly, the fight was also capable of being viewed on Pay-Per-View for £30 on Zeus TV, which also didn’t do well, as predicted by promoter Eddie Hearn prior to the fight.
Official numbers of the amount of PPV viewers and people in attendance haven’t yet been released, but in this case, but images and video footage of the stadium give a clear view of the lack of interest in the event. Though no official scoring or judging was present, Mayweather easily won in his eight-round exhibition bout but his victory was marred by the lack of atmosphere and attendance in the popular stadium of the O2 Arena which has a maximum capacity of 20.000 and is known for hosting some of the biggest events. It will notably also host the WWE’s Money In The Bank event on July 1st, and is undoubtedly still one of the most popular venues in the UK.
Other than Mayweather’s fight with Chalmers, the fight card featured several other exhibition bouts, some between reality TV stars while others were between pro’s (veteran or rookie). The card included bouts between celebrities Tommie Lee and Natalie Nunn, prospects J’Hon Ingram – mostly known for dropping Rolly Romero in sparring – and Meeks Kastelo, pro boxers Antonio Zepeda and Christopher Lovejoy along with Heavyweight veteran Kevin Johnson who fought Mike Hales.
With undercard fighters largely dependent on ticket and television or PPV sales, it is important to note that the fighters who took part in the (exhibition) bouts will likely still get paid as stipulated in their contracts. With at least one fighter of Mayweather Promotions, J’Hon Ingram, on the card and Mayweather having ensured fighters on his exhibition cards would get paid, it is unlikely the participants will not get properly compensated.
Despite the lack of attendance, Mayweather Jr. showed grace and respect towards the UK fans – whether they showed up or not. In a quite humbling post-press conference, the 50-0 American fighter seemed thankful and grateful for being able to step into the ring at the O2 Arena.
“I really want to thank the fans in the UK. The United Kingdom is an unbelievable place, (has an) unbelievable fanbase, and I couldn’t thank you guys enough.” Floyd said in the post-presser of his fight with Chalmers. “I think we had fun. We gave the fans excitement.
“They were happy, they were cheering.”
