Reports before Saturday's Lennox Lewis-Evander
Holyfield fight estimated that the title bout would draw
"only about" 700,000 PPV sales, according to Kevin Iole of
the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, who noted that the first
Lewis-Holyfield fight did 1.2 million buys. But HBO/TVKO
Sports Senior VP Lou DiBella said, "In all honesty, it's not
doing as badly as some people are making [it] out to be"
(REVIEW-JOURNAL, 11/13). DiBella: "To put it in perspective,
the fighters are being paid handsomely ($15M each), the
promoters will make money and Time Warner will not lose
money" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 11/14). In Philadelphia, Jay
Searcy reported that the 650,000 sales "needed to break even
may not be reached" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 11/13).
GEORGE IN THE CORNER: In Boston, Jim Baker writes that
viewers of Saturday's fight "had to wonder what fight"
analyst George Foreman was watching Saturday. Baker: "His
remarks were so pro-Holyfield ... that TVKO viewers would be
entitled to ask how much loot Foreman lost backing the ex-
heavyweight champ." But Baker writes that TVKO's Jim
Lampley had "another strong call" (BOSTON HERALD, 11/15).
