About 12,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday's
Evander Holyfield-Michael Moorer fight at the Thomas & Mack
Center, which is 6,000 fewer than the arena's capacity and
"about" 5,000 fewer than crammed into the MGM Grand Garden
to see Holyfield-Tyson II in June, according to Dean Juipe
of the LAS VEGAS SUN. Promoters, however, are expecting a
"decent walk-up crowd" and have already lifted the local
pay-per-view ban (LAS VEGAS SUN, 11/5).
THE SHOW MUST GO ON: Showtime Event TV (SET) Senior
Marketing Consultant Suzan Couch said the PPV service's
first major bout since Tyson-Holyfield II is "suffering none
of the lingering taint" that some predicted, according to
VARIETY's Ray Richmond. Couch: "Our research is telling us
that the (Tyson biting incident) does not seem to have any
lingering effect on the business." The first Holyfield-
Moorer fight drew 650,000 PPV customers. SET predicts the
coming fight will "eclipse" that, though it declines to
project a number (VARIETY, 11/9). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir
writes that Moorer is not a PPV "star" and that he "barely
merits free TV exposure" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/7).
RING NOTES: A-B's Budweiser, which has a standing
relationship with Las Vegas' Mirage, will supply "part of
the marketing muscle" for the fight (CABLE WORLD, 11/3).
...Showtime's boxing Web site, www.setboxing.com, contains
seven sections, among them, the rematch; the hit report,
which features the latest news on the fight; the ticket,
which lists the bouts on the card; online voting; a "play
the game" contest partially sponsored by America West
Airlines; and boxing gear, which advertises showtime boxing
merchandise. The site also has a link to Holyfield's Web
site, www.1888holyfield.com. Holyfield's site contains five
sections: one detailing his pre-fight training program; a
section devoted to Holyfield's foundation; the Fan Club;
Statistics on Holyfield; and a Holyfield Warrior merchandise
area. The site is sponsored by SET Boxing (THE DAILY).
THE MAN WHO IS KING: Don King is featured in an
extensive profile by Ron Borges of the BOSTON GLOBE.
Borges: "He is under indictment, under siege, under the gun.
For Don King, this is not only his life but his lifestyle.
... His world, it seems, is after him, and he is old and
weary, and so his enemies think they see blood in the water
and believe it is his. Before this is over, that may be the
case, but for now, King stands ready to fight -- which, as
his longtime rivals know, is when he is most dangerous."
King: "My government is obsessed with Don King. They say,
'He's in the Mob.' If I got a Mob, it's the sissiest Mob
there ever was. ... The government is on my case all time.
They're no longer prosecuting me, they're persecuting me."
More King: "Anybody gets tired. Anybody gets worn down.
But as we get into the evening of our careers, they're going
to have to go to the statistics, to the achievements of my
career. That they cannot deny" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/7).
