BoxRec

Now the Guardian are onto it.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/boxing/stor ... rss&feed=7

This is a symptom of boxing's ills more than anything else.

The paucity of boxing regulation and absence of coordinated governence will always lead to these situations. Arum, King, touts, and anybody with smarts, can thrive in the vacume of chaos that replaces the rule of law and, unfortunately, the fact that ticket touting is not only accepted in boxing but actually, it seems, institutionalised doesn't surprise me any more than the fact that boxing can have 3 world champions (get Aristotle working on that!), or that a boxer not fit to fight in Nevada or New York can take a fight in Mississippi.

However, that said, this whole debacle reflects badly on Hatton, especially given the Man of the People petard he has hoisted himself upon. This much is obvious.

What has been lost in the wash, I believe, is that touting-gate is simply the continuation of a trend of shabby management since he left Warren. There's one argument that says to negotiate 3 fights against easy opposition and one against a marquee name before finding himself in a mega matchup as a free agent, able to negotiate the best price for his services, was brilliant management.

I disagree. There was an air of farce about the FA-Ray Hatton era. The choice of venue for the Collazo fight was risable; the choice of Collazo -- who might have been the worst style matchup for Ricky imaginable -- was unforgivable; the I-don't-care-about-alphabet-belts-but-nobody-criticise-me-because-I've-been-in-lots-of-alphabet-title-matches PR efforts were insulting; the fact he left Warren, at first, for not getting the big fights, but then said in court that Warren would have virtually had him killed by putting him in against top fighter after top fighter; the fact he now only fights every 6 months; the choice of Artie Pelullo as US promoter.

I'm sure we could add more, but ultimately it all adds up to a general lack of professionalism. I suspect that FA were little more than figure-heads who made little profit and were in it to boost their reputation. They certainly did a great job with Clinton Woods, but the Hatton handling, whether it came from Hobson, Ray Hatton or whoever, was pernicious.

Touting-gate is simply the latest of a litany of mis-management, and one of the worst. Perhaps, for all the talk of friction between Hatton and Billy Graham, it's dad who needs to go.

I know this is music to Spud's ears that the venerable and reveered Thomas Hauser has taken to the stand but the actually story is very real, and unquestionably a terrible reflection on how the tickets were dispensed.

If hundreds of tickets had been annexed to cater for Hatton's friends, contacts and family, whether they pay for them or not - fair enough. If the inference is several hundred were 'scalped' from the paltry 4500 made available to the people who paid Hatton his wages on the way up, purely to make EXTRA money above and beyond face value.

Than it casts a nasty shadow over Hatton's rhetoric about the fans and specifically his statements of disgust at the allocation.

This is a real story, we can all be men of the world and accept boxing is about money etc, and market forces dictate price etc but it doesn't stop the whiff of the gutter getting up my nose.

DavidPayne wrote:I know this is music to Spud's ears that the venerable and reveered Thomas Hauser has taken to the stand but the actually story is very real, and unquestionably a terrible reflection on how the tickets were dispensed.

If hundreds of tickets had been annexed to cater for Hatton's friends, contacts and family, whether they pay for them or not - fair enough. If the inference is several hundred were 'scalped' from the paltry 4500 made available to the people who paid Hatton his wages on the way up, purely to make EXTRA money above and beyond face value.

Than it casts a nasty shadow over Hatton's rhetoric about the fans and specifically his statements of disgust at the allocation.

This is a real story, we can all be men of the world and accept boxing is about money etc, and market forces dictate price etc but it doesn't stop the whiff of the gutter getting up my nose.

I think you need to join the real world mate.

I probably dislike Hatton more than most on here, as I'm sure you know. The day before the fight I came on here and prayed for him to get beaten after venting my disgust at the 'man of the people' charade.

But at the end of the day, boxing is a business. I hate anybody for pretending to be what they are not, but not for making money LEGITIMATELY. No laws have been broken... only slick business done.

The only surprises here are:

1) That people are surprised the Hatton's are about money.
2) That people didn't realise this went on.

I think we all knew it went on, but as Hauser comments, never before on this scale.

And partnered with the public commentary on the allocation of tickets from Hatton, it rather sticks in the craw.

DavidPayne wrote:I know this is music to Spud's ears that the venerable and reveered Thomas Hauser has taken to the stand but the actually story is very real, and unquestionably a terrible reflection on how the tickets were dispensed.

If hundreds of tickets had been annexed to cater for Hatton's friends, contacts and family, whether they pay for them or not - fair enough. If the inference is several hundred were 'scalped' from the paltry 4500 made available to the people who paid Hatton his wages on the way up, purely to make EXTRA money above and beyond face value.

Than it casts a nasty shadow over Hatton's rhetoric about the fans and specifically his statements of disgust at the allocation.

This is a real story, we can all be men of the world and accept boxing is about money etc, and market forces dictate price etc but it doesn't stop the whiff of the gutter getting up my nose.

I fully agree. Being a man of the people and then taking the shirts from your fans' backs by ticket touting is rather like a politician calling for a return to old fashioned familiy values and then getting caught bonking the office secretary in his Chelsea shirt.

Of course we all know that politicians commit adultary and sportsmen abuse their positions, but it's hardly the point, is it?

Carbo wrote:

DavidPayne wrote:I know this is music to Spud's ears that the venerable and reveered Thomas Hauser has taken to the stand but the actually story is very real, and unquestionably a terrible reflection on how the tickets were dispensed.

If hundreds of tickets had been annexed to cater for Hatton's friends, contacts and family, whether they pay for them or not - fair enough. If the inference is several hundred were 'scalped' from the paltry 4500 made available to the people who paid Hatton his wages on the way up, purely to make EXTRA money above and beyond face value.

Than it casts a nasty shadow over Hatton's rhetoric about the fans and specifically his statements of disgust at the allocation.

This is a real story, we can all be men of the world and accept boxing is about money etc, and market forces dictate price etc but it doesn't stop the whiff of the gutter getting up my nose.

I fully agree. Being a man of the people and then taking the shirts from your fans' backs by ticket touting is rather like a politician calling for a return to old fashioned familiy values and then getting caught bonking the office secretary in his Chelsea shirt.

Of course we all know that politicians commit adultary and sportsmen abuse their positions, but it's hardly the point, is it?

Yep, I'm with Dave P and Carbo on this one.