Bar owners in Hamilton reacted angrily last night after Bermuda Broadcasting Company slapped an injunction on them to stop them showing the Mike Tyson v Andrew Golota fight.

Lawyers for the station handed out the Supreme Court injunctions to Flanagan's, the Robin Hood, M.R. Onions and The Beach just before 5 p.m.

The injunction stated the station has an exclusive contract with Joe Hand Productions of Pennsylvannia to show the fight in Bermuda.

Fans wanting to see the clash were forced to pay $50 and travel to Club Azure in St. David's, where ZBM was showing the event.

Bar owners banned from broadcasting bout Bar owners in the city would have got the fight on satellite and planned to show it for free.

Flanagan's owner Tom Gallagher said: "It's absolutely absurd. Pay per view is about $85 and anyone with a satellite in Bermuda can buy it.

"I can't see how someone in the US or wherever can claim exclusive rights to something that's in the public domain.

"What are they going to do next? Stop cable television, and who isn't carrying the signal?'' Robin Hood owner Paul Harris said: "I am not at all happy. We provide sport as part of the service to our customers and it doesn't make any sense to me that suddenly ZBM can say they are the only ones who can show it.

"They belly-ached about the F.A. Cup final when we got it charged $10 a head because they said it should be on the BBC for everyone to see.

"But now they are charging $50 a head and limited it to just over 100 people.

It doesn't seem to me to be what ZBM is supposed to be about.'' M.R. Onions owner Phil Talbot added: "I am not happy about this at all. We were going to get it from a satellite dish now ZBM are saying you've got to travel all the way to St. David's. How many people are going to see the fight?'' After the injunction was served, lawyers from New Jersey representing Joe Hand Productions faxed M.R. Onions warning they would "exhaust any legal remedy available to us'' if the fight is broadcast.

ZBM sports director Mike Sharpe said: "We definitely have the rights for it.

The courts ruled in our favour.'' RESTAURANT EAT