ESPN2 officials "insist there's no truth to the rumor
its 'Friday Night Fights' series is on shaky ground after
Budweiser pulled out as title sponsor," according to Larry
Hamel of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. Boxing Programming Manager
Robert Yalen says "there are no plans to pull the plug," as
"two or three advertisers are interested in filling the
[title-sponsor] void." Yalen adds that last week's Dana
Rosenblatt-Vinny Pazienza bout "produced the series' highest
rating," a 1.21 and was seen in about 812,000 homes. Hamel
notes that the ESPN2 show has been criticized "for its lack
of competitive fights." Yalen: "We've done our best to
patch things together" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 11/11).
GAG ORDER: In Orlando, George Diaz notes that TVKO
officials "are under orders not to answer any questions
about expected buys" for Saturday's Lennox Lewis-Evander
Holyfield fight, which has a suggested PPV price of $49.95.
Their first fight drew an audience of 1.2 million PPV homes
(ORLANDO SENTINEL, 11/11). In N.Y., Timothy Smith reports
that TVKO is "taking a cautious approach to this show," and
is "not making any predictions." TVKO Senior VP Mark
Taffet: "The only thing we hope to get out of this fight is
one undisputed heavyweight champion" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/11).
