ARE MSG OFFICIALS GIDDY AFTER KO OF SATURDAY'S FIGHT?

          Saturday's scheduled fight night at Madison Square
     Garden, which was to feature Evander Holyfield versus Henry
     Akinwande for the WBA heavyweight crown, "unraveled
     completely" Friday after a "series of strange developments,"
     according to Timothy Smith of the N.Y. TIMES.  The main bout
     was cancelled after Akinwande tested positive for hepatitis
     B, and Smith wrote that the debacle was the "latest setback"
     in NYC's "bid to make boxing a profitable enterprise in the
     city."  However, the "biggest financial losers" were the
     fighters, including Holyfield, who will not receive his $10M
     guarantee, and Akinwande who lose out on $2.5M (N.Y. TIMES,
     6/7).  In N.Y., Gargano & Kuntzman wrote that the
     cancellation cost MSG $100,000 in promotional fees, but it
     "could have lost more than" $1M had the fight taken place. 
     Only 4,000 advance tickets had been sold for the fight, and
     MSG officials "were said to be happy the fight was
     scratched" (N.Y. POST, 6/6).  ESPN's Jon Saraceno reported
     that Showtime's Jay Larkin had said that the fight "was
     doing better in PPV sales as the week went along, but
     there's no guarantee that it would have done enough to keep
     Showtime out of a bad ink situation" ("SportsCenter," 6/5).