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E-mailPoor sales ko erin go brawl II
Poor tickets sales due to the recession have forced Irish Ropes Promotions to cancel their St. Patrick’s Eve Erin Go Brawl II show at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden.
The card was also meant to be the next stage for Irish Ropes’ career after its acrimonious split from Derry fighter John Duddy, and the cancellation has left the future of the company unclear.
In a press release last Friday, Irish Ropes outlined the reasons for the cancellation. “This was a very difficult decision to make but ticket sales were way off compared to two years ago when the economy was much better here and back in Ireland,” Irish Ropes Promotions president Eddie McLoughlin explained.
“We apologize for any inconveniences, especially to all of the boxers who worked so hard to prepare for their fights.”
Though Irish Ropes made a business decision to cancel the show, there is no doubt that numerous fans are now making a trip to New York for nothing, not to mention the 20 odd fighters on the card who went through their paces getting into fight condition. Though McLoughlin acknowledges all of this, the potential financial loss, he says, was just too much of a hit.
“We apologize wholeheartedly. If I had even thought that there was a chance that we could break even or even lose $100 000, I would have gone with it. But the facts are that I stood to lose $200,000 on this, and I had no contract on any fighters to potentially make it up down the road,” McLoughlin told the Irish Voice Monday.
“All that was gone was about 1,500 tickets from 5,000, and it wasn’t going to get the jumpstart to bring it up to about 3,000 to get even. I didn’t think we were going to get the walk up that we needed to break even here.
“That is the element of risk you take with these fights. We had no TV and we were depending solely on the ticket returns.”
Breaking the news to the boxers on Thursday was not the easiest call McLoughlin has made. “They weren’t too happy, but they were appreciative that we gave them as much time as we possibly could,” he said.
When McLoughlin was asked if Irish Ropes has a future as a going concern he replied, “Well, we have to wait until the economy gets better. I’ll still be keeping my license, but I won’t be doing any show in the short term.
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