Maybe the half-empty O2 Arena was not quite a literal abyss, but it might have been a metaphorical one. When your career has been built on a communal interest in watching you get knocked out, what remains when that very possibility is removed? Whatever is left, it is not nearly enough to fill the O2 Arena, as Floyd Mayweather found out on Saturday night, when he boxed in the UK for the first time ever.
That was the major selling point of this exhibition bout against Aaron Chalmers, the reality TV star-turned-fighter who stepped in for kickboxer Liam Harrison. But the major selling point ended up being a minor one, as Mayweather – sporting Union Jack shorts – toyed with and taunted Chalmers across eight two-minute rounds, in front of an underwhelming and underwhelmed audience in the English capital.
