Heavyweight contest with a lightweight crowd
The British promoters of Joseph Parker’s WBO world heavyweight title defence have conceded they have only sold 5000 tickets for this weekend’s fight.
Parker takes on Hughie Fury in the 21,000 seater Manchester Arena on Sunday and the impressive indoor stadium will be struggling to be anywhere near half-full.
Hennessy Sports have blocked out the top tier of 9000 seats from the start of their ticket drive, a strange admission given the stature of the fight and the fact that Fury has home support, having grown up on the outskirts of the northern city.
Hennessy Sports boss Mick Hennessy claims the main event doesn’t warrant a full stadium.
‘‘There’s lots of fake news out there about tickets and stuff and everything that goes around it. We’re not expecting to sell stadium out. Of course we’re not. These are two young fighters making their name for the heavyweight world title,’’ Hennessy said, seeming to ignore the fact Parker already owns the belt, though this is his UK debut.
‘‘We laid it out for 10,000, we’ve done 5000 and we’re looking to try to get to as close to 10,000 as possible.
‘‘That’s not the point. These two young fighters will build their name in this fight and then everyone worldwide will know who they are.’’
Hennessy then seemed to contradict himself as he tried to talk up the actual fight night that will complement the company’s ‘‘groundbreaking’’ move to broadcast it live on YouTube to areas outside New Zealand, Australia and Samoa where Parker’s bosses at Duco Events hold the TV rights.
‘‘We’ve got a brilliant world heavyweight fight, it’s a 50-50 fight for anyone’s money. Two young guns in their prime, modern day heavyweights, both big fighters and both putting undefeated records on the line.
‘‘Is it the biggest fight out there commercially in the heavyweight division? No, we all know that. This is two young fighters trying to make their names and their legacies and they are about to do that.’’
The promotion has struggled for oxygen in the busy British fight scene.