AN ESTIMATED 760 fake tickets amounting to P110,000 were reportedly uncovered shortly after last Sunday?s live telecast in the Cebu City Coliseum of the Manny Pacquiao-Eric Morales fight.
Cebu Coliseum manager Ben Tulda Sr. said 510 fake upper box tickets and 250 fake lower box tickets were discovered after the fight?s staging.
?Ako nalang ang naguol nila (I?m worried for them ),? said Tulda, who said he also experienced losses when they hosted a live telecast of the Pacquiao-Oscar Larios fight last June at the coliseum.
Noted boxing promoter Wakee Salud had booked the coliseum and the Mandaue City Sports Complex to air the Pacquiao-Morales match live and with no commercial breaks.
Tulda said Salud booked the coliseum with its minimal fee of P20,000.
But last Sunday, Salud?s ticket in-charge could not trace the source of the leak nor explain the number of viewers flocking the lower box. The audience there had numbered more than 1,200 when the organizers limited the seats to around 500.
When Tulda saw the number of people crowding the box, he immediately knew organizers had failed to put up anti-fake markers on the tickets.
Salud, who watched the match in Las Vegas and is still there, could not be reached for comments.
Tulda, however, could not say whether the organizers of the telecast made money last Sunday or did just enough to break even.
He said the organizers still have to deal with Cebu City Hall for the 30 percent amusement tax.
30% tax
?After the live fight, the City Government was asking the person in charge for the 30 percent tax,? said Tulda. He said the tax will be dealt with when Salud comes home from the US.
?I experienced a big net loss when I held a live telecast here in the coliseum. All was organized that time but I failed to advertise it,? said Tulda.
But if there was one sure winner in the coliseum, it was the hotdog vendor.
But Gelen Yu, who owns a hotdog booth in the area, made Sunday a payday worthy of a minor regional boxing belt. Yu sold P40,000 worth of hotdog sandwiches.
From P30, Gelen increased the price of her sandwiches to P35 after she ran out of buns and had to buy from the nearest bakery. Still, customers kept on buying.
