Questions concerning Madison Square Garden's security
continued following Thursday night's brawl after the Bowe-Golata
fight, according to numerous reports. USA TODAY's Jon Saraceno
notes there were 70 security officers and 50 ushers at MSG, but
they "couldn't cope" with the crowd. Police were not called to
help until five minutes after the melee broke out. The first
call to 911, moreover, was made by an HBO viewer. Riddick Bowe's
manager, Rock Newman: "There was a shortcut on safety trying to
save costs" (USA TODAY, 7/15). MSG President Dave Checketts
admitted the situation "was not handled as well as I'd like to
see this handled," but he added MSG would hold its next scheduled
boxing event on August 13 (James Barron, N.Y. TIMES, 7/13). An
"angry" New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani vowed to have city police
at all future sporting events. Giuliani: "From now on we will
not rely upon notification from private security people. We will
have our own security officers there to do our own notification"
(N.Y. POST, 7/13). Richard Sandomir notes it is "not surprising
that the Garden will stay in the boxing game," considering MSG
made a profit of $100,000 off of Bowe-Golata (N.Y. TIMES, 7/13).
BIG APPLE GRAPPLE: William Rhoden: "After eight months in
the business [MSG's John Cirillo, Checketts, et al.] clearly do
not understand the nature of the beast they have invited into
their house" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/13)....Mark Kriegel: "The people at
the Garden are guilty of woefully inadequate security" (N.Y.
DAILY NEWS, 7/13)....Bob Raissman writes Newman, Checketts,
Cirillo and all others involved should "take a good long look in
the mirror" when assessing damage and blame (N.Y. DAILY NEWS,
7/14).
