KEY WITNESS CHAVEZ LEAVES COUNTRY; KING TRIAL IN "CHAOS"

          "Chaos reigned at Don King's fraud trial yesterday as
     prosecutors revealed that former boxing champ Julio Cesar
     Chavez has bolted for Mexico in the middle of cross-
     examination," according to Al Guart of the N.Y. POST.  King
     and his production company are charged with defrauding
     Lloyd's of London out of $350,000 by submitting a false
     insurance claim from a scheduled '91 Chavez fight.  Chavez
     testified last week that he never signed a "doctored
     contract submitted" to Lloyd's that claimed King paid him
     $350,000 in "non-refundable" training expenses.  Chavez was
     "partially" cross-examined by King's lawyer, Peter Fleming,
     before the trial was delayed last week.  At that time,
     Federal Judge Lawrence McKenna asked Chavez to remain in the
     U.S. and not go home to Mexico.  Legal analyst Monroe
     Freedman said that if Chavez fails to return and testify,
     King's lawyers "could seek a mistrial or ask McKenna to
     overturn a guilty verdict" (N.Y. POST, 5/12).