Floyd Mayweather made his eagerly anticipated UK debut on Saturday night, although it wasn’t how anyone would have wanted the iconic boxer to appear in the country for the first time in the ring.
Having a famed career winning some of the biggest fights of the last two decades, Mayweather has always been in high demand but he never came over to the UK during his professional career. He did fight British man Ricky
Hatton, although that was on the other side of the pond.
It was reality TV star Aaron Chalmers in the opposite corner for Mayweather, who made sure that he entertained those fans in attendance, although the overall number was worrying.
How empty was Floyd Mayweather vs Aaron Chalmers?
Money is always a big draw, but only around half of the arena was sold for the bout which has seen plenty of discussion online around the clash. Fans will have seen a performance and a half from Mayweather who danced around the ring for eight rounds.
He taunted his opponent and comfortably won every round, making a mockery of Chalmers who despite some experience in the ring, couldn’t get near the undefeated man. Thankfully for the TV star, there weren’t that many people there to see it.
Although it was arguably one of the biggest names in the history of the sport, coming to a country for the first time, not many people were interested in the clash and the half empty stadium proved that. It clearly caused concern with Mayweather addressing this in the post-fight press conference.
Video: Floyd Mayweather vs Aaron Chalmers highlights
What did Floyd Mayweather say about the low attendance for UK debut?
When addressing the lowly turnout, Mayweather claimed: “We did this in one month - not even four weeks. I think the tickets should've went on sale a lot faster. My new team is still learning. I have got to take my hat off to them, it's not their fault. It's just when we fight in the US, as soon as we announce the fight, tickets are on sale.
“Here, we announced the fight and the tickets didn't go on sale until a week or two weeks later. I don't point fingers. We work together as a team. When you buy tickets over here, you don't really want to spend money. In America we don't mind spending money.”
So who knows, that could be the first and last time British fans get to see the undefeated former champion in their country.