By Barry Holbrook: Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was practically apoplectic on Thursday in giving a long ten-minute rant on the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk ticket resale market for their September 25th fight.
The question is, would the Joshua-Usyk tickets have sold out in 24 hours if not for the ticket resellers snatching them up? Probably not. There’s still a lot of interest in the Joshua vs. Usyk fight, particularly from British boxing fans.
It’s not quite as interesting to fans outside of the UK, who would rather see Joshua fight someone with more of a chance to win.
Although Matchroom revealed on Wednesday that ALL the tickets had been purchased with 24 hours for the Joshua – Usyk fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London for their September 25th fight, what they didn’t know is that MANY of those tickets were scooped up by clever ticket resellers, who are now marking up the prices in the secondary resale market.
It’s obviously a good way of making money when you’re got a popular event like Joshua vs. Usyk.
Some ruthless ticket resellers quickly purchase the tickets at face value and then resell them at astronomical prices to desperate and gullible fans, who are willing to pay any price to see Joshua or whoever fight.
Hearn sounds off on Joshua-Usyk ticket resale market
“The secondary market exists. I absolutely hate the fact that somebody would buy to sell,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about the ticket resellers that scooped up basically all the tickets for the Joshua vs. Usyk fight and are now selling them at an inflated price.
“Our latest report was 2000 something tickets available on the StubHub resale market. That is the market that we kind of control. We have some kind of regulation over.
“On other secondary sites, people list tickets that don’t exist. The secondary resale market, particularly in today’s world, is actually quite useful for a fan. If you’re isolating and you haven’t been vaccinated and that gets called in by the government.
“If you become ill, then you will need to resale your ticket. What I cannot understand is people who buy to sell and turn a few quid.
“When I look at those numbers, I could have doubled every ticket price and just sold out at the same pace. You have to understand that we do not resale tickets.
We have zero benefits, profit, whatever you want to call it, from the resale of tickets. So for a promoter, to see someone buy a face value ticket and then try to sell it, we don’t like it either,” said Hearn.
It could prove to be next to impossible unless they make tickets non-transferable. If the people or organization that purchasing the tickets can’t resell them, it’ll kill the resell market once and for all.
Unfortunately, that’s probably not going to happen, so promoters like Hearn, Top Rank, and Golden Boy will have to live with the secondary ticket resale market.
Nonexistent tickets sold
“I do feel like there is a place for a secondary ticket market with this affiliation with them, we know they’re real, these tickets,” Hearn said. “We can control who’s selling what and what’s happening.
“You go on some of them, people are just listing tickets that do not exist. There is a small number of actual tickets available in relation to the size of this show.
“The other ones, don’t even go there because there are nightmare stories everywhere. For me, I hope people don’t do that but we do appreciate that it’s not illegal.
“It operates all across all major events, and unfortunately, when you get an event there will always be that element to it. This way we control what’s real and what’s not.
“Somebody sent me a link the other day and it was tickets that I know for a fact aren’t available because they’re being held by a fighter or by the office.
“You couldn’t have gotten access to them, and people are listing those before they’ve even gone on sale. So I understand people’s frustration. This is the way we do it.
“I do think there is a place, particularly in this world, a place for fans to be able to resell a ticket. I just hope and wish they don’t do it. I want them to come.
“I understand people will say, ‘I could have bought that ticket. Now this guy is trying to resell it. I understand. It’s a small number that is actually available and it’s something we continue to look at,” said Hearn.
It is good for fans to get a chance to sell their tickets if they’re unable to attend an event. But when you give them that option, they’re going to sell it to the highest bidder.
Of course, the ticket resellers will game the system to take advantage of it themselves to become rich. Again, if you make the tickets non-transferable, you’ll end the problem. That’s not going to happen, though.
Impossible to stop the secondary resale market
“You’re not going to stop the secondary resale market,” Hearn said. “I believe there’s a place for it, particularly in today’s world. But I hate the fact.
“Even if you want to say, ‘We’re so greedy.’ But somebody is profiting from a ticket that we’re not profiting from.
“So, I hate it. In a genuine way, if you buy a ticket and all of a sudden you’re unwell or you find out that you have to go to someone’s wedding or you have a family occasion and you need to resell that ticket, great.
“It’s a controlled environment and it’s done very efficiently through our partners.
“But what we don’t like is someone coming on saying, ‘I bought it for 100, I’ll stick it on for four grand.’ I think you shouldn’t buy them in that capacity quite honestly,” said Hearn.
When you hear about Joshua’s fights selling out, you have to take that news with a grain of salt and realize the tickets have been scooped up by scalpers, who are going to sell them at an inflated price.
