Apparently, the upcoming jr. welterweight clash between WBA & IBF champion Amir Khan and challenger Lamont Peterson is a hot ticket, or so it would seem. Tickets priced at $25, $50, $75, $150, and $300 went on sale Friday morning at 10:00 AM ET and could be purchased through Ticketmaster via phone or online at www.ticketmaster.com. In less than 15 minutes, fans on a budget that were hoping to attend the event with a guest had no choice but to dip into their savings as the only tickets left available were in the $150 and $300 price range. FightHype.com received an email from a fan who informed us that by 10:12 AM ET, a representative from Ticketmaster told him that tickets priced at $25, $50, and $75 were essentially all sold out.
Upon receiving the email, we promptly checked ticketmaster.com and sure enough, all attempts at purchasing 2 tickets priced at $25, $50 and $75 were met with the message, "Sorry, no exact matches were found, but other tickets may still be available." To be fair, if any fans are planning on sitting by themselves, at least you can still buy 1 ticket at those prices. That being said, there's no guarantee that will still be the case by the time this is published since, according to the ticketmaster representative, roughly 10 seats, scattered around the arena, were available in the cheaper price range. One has to wonder why the promotional company, in this case Golden Boy Promotions, even bothers to inform fans in advance that tickets are on sale if, after just 15 minutes, there are none available. To quote the fan who sent us the email, "Khan vs Peterson is cool, but this DC card ain't selling like that."
Considering how quickly tickets in 3 out of the 5 available prices were unavailable, it should be interesting to see just how packed the Washington Convention Center is on December 10. Is this truly a case of a card being a hot ticket or are fans just getting taken advantage of by the backdoor deals made between promoters and ticket brokers? Check out the email we recieved from FightHype reader Chip and judge for yourself:
This is the shit that kills boxing. I log on at 9:55 into my Ticketmaster account. At 10:00am I go to make my purchase and I try to order 5 of the $25 tix. I was gonna treat 4 of my friends who have never been to a live boxing event.
So the $25 tix weren't available. I tried 10 times, figuring there was a glitch. I tried the $50 tix. Same deal. So I call ticketmaster for the $75 tix. I couldn't afford 5 so I tried to get 3. They were sold out. It was 10:12.
Look man. Khan vs Peterson is cool, but this DC card ain't selling like that. So I ask the Ticketmaster rep what the deal was. He told me there were like 10 of the $25 Tix available. He said the same for the $50 and $75 Tix.
This is bullshit! He said try back Monday when a lot of the credit card payments get rejected. So I guess the house will be "papered".
Funny thing is this: I went to a UK website that sells the tickets at all prices. I went all the way to the "pay now" portion and the sale would've went through. It was set up for Khan fans that want to travel but it allows US fans to buy. You get a special code to take to the door for Will Call. I'm so tempted to do this but I'm scared to trust this website. I know it's legit...
Anyway I'll try Monday. Just wanted to vent to fighthype.com.
Chip
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