By Frank P: I find myself, just days after the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao tickets went on sale, still fuming. I’m not upset about the price of the tickets. I’m upset I wasn’t given the opportunity to buy one. I am so upset I needed an outlet to let it out. Hence, my first post.
My dad used to take me to the fights in the 80s in Puerto Rico. Oh, what a time: Chapo, Wilfredo, Macho……too many starts to name. Tune into regular TV for Leonard, Hagler, Tyson. I grew up loving boxing.
Fast forward 30 years, and you find me glued to HBO and Showtime and ESPN watching whoever is on. Luckily, my two sons have embraced being fans of the sport, and nothing pleases me more than to think of them remembering my passion of the sport long after I’m gone, much like I remember my father now that he’s gone.
I have been blessed in recent years with the means to travel to Las Vegas and see some of Floyd’s fights live.
This is where it starts to turn for me: As the rumor grows about the number of tickets to be released to the public, I get more and more upset. Why limit the number of tickets? Why not give us the die hard fans a chance to buy the tickets? I don’t want it free. I’ll pay. Just give me a chance to BUY!
If you are pushing them to brokers at higher prices, then hey, RAISE your prices. I don’t have a problem with you making a ton of money if some of us are willing to pay it. But to lock us out? Shame on you. You will probably give those tickets to I don’t know who at Showtime and HBO. They either sell them online or heaven forbid, they go themselves. I’ve been at the MGM. I’ve been in the crowd looking down at the ringside seats. Seats I CAN afford, but I am not given a chance to buy. I watch the fight as well as the people coming in. I would dare say better than 75% of those at ringside don’t care about boxing. People are talking, mingling, coming in and out…..not a care in the world about what’s going on in front of them. And the true fans? We are behind them, watching the action and them.
To the powers that be controlling the tickets I say: I think you should absolutely have some reserved for you. But did you need to take over 99% of all tickets? I read Pacquiao needed 800-900 for “friends”. Really? Have those 800-900 friends bought PPV after PPV to support you? Floyd’s side is no different. It was reported each camp got 30% of 16,000 tickets. Did you really need THAT many tickets for your own personal use? To have 500 tickets released to the public for the biggest fight in history, is simply, a travesty. Die hard fans like me will be screaming at TV screens…..people who probably don’t care much about boxing and just want to say they were there will cheer live at the Arena because, hey, it’s time to cheer.
As as I hit refresh over and over on Ticketmaster on Thursday, I realized I would not make it to the fight live. Every second that went by, you saw the ticket count increase on StubHub, which started listing tickets at the same time as Ticketmaster. It was like seeing the tickets being given away in chunks online in real time. For a true boxing fan, it just hurt. I emailed Mayweather promotions. I emailed Top Rank. I was desperate for a chance to BUY, BUY BUY my own tickets.
So, here I am, no tickets to the fight. I’ll be in Vegas, and will catch the CC at the Aria. That’s because I am not staying at the MGM, and after calling the MGM I find that their CC is reserved for guests of the hotel. So I don’t even have a reason to be at the MGM and experience the atmosphere of fight night live. It is my son’s 21st birthday, and I am taking them to their first fight and first trip to Vegas. I wanted to make it special, and I know it will be. But not even being given the chance to buy tickets, to me, was just wrong.
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