More than 1000 venues are facing fines for illegally broadcasting the Mayweather v Pacquiao fight

REMEMBER the secret police trying to crack down on establishments pirating the Mayweather v Pacquiao superfight?

Well, it appears there were quite a few establishments who illegally broadcast the highly anticipated boxing match.

The California-based company in charge of pay-per-view distribution in the United States, J&J Sports Productions, claimed to have paid $AU9m for the commercial licensing rights of the broadcast.

With so much invested in the pay-per-view, it’s no surprise it hired more than 1500 private investigators to seek out establishments illegally broadcasting the fight without paying the correct licencing fee.

J&J owner Joe Gagliardi said a total of 4,000 licenses were sold for the fight, although more than 1,000 pirated broadcasts were found by investigators on the night.

“We have to catch as many as we can to protect the people who pay,” he told USA Today.

So by avoiding the licensing fee that would set them back somewhere between $AU4000 and $AU9000, the establishments in question now face fines of up to $AU130,000 or five years in prison.

While J&J Sports Productions believe it is doing the noble thing, a lawyer who has defended establishments against the company disagrees.

Matthew Pare said the J&J’s aggressive stance is nothing more than a modern-day shakedown.

“They like to describe it as policing or enforcing,” he told Boxing Junkie.

“But it goes way, way beyond that. What they’re trying to do is almost extort money.”

Mr Gagliardi refuted these claims by suggesting much of the money ends up with the attorneys as these cases often take years to reach a result.

He stands by his convictions that the real extortionists are the pirates who illegally watched the fight and didn’t get caught.