The Mike Tyson-Francois Botha fight "was the least-
purchased pay-per-view event of Tyson's career," according
to Scott Hettrick of The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Estimates have
750,000 customers paying $45.95 to watch the Saturday night
fight, compared to the "record" 2 million PPV purchases for
Tyson's previous fight in '97 against Evander Holyfield.
Showtime Senior VP Jay Larkin says that even though
Saturday's PPV buys were lower than other Tyson PPV events,
the $30M gross does exceed previous Tyson fights that had
more buys (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 1/20). In Boston, Howard
Manly writes that Tyson's "ability to attract middle-of-the-
road fight fans ... has diminished." Manly: "The sad part
is that no one is really interested anymore" (BOSTON GLOBE,
1/20). ME-based TV Sports File, which tracks PPV buys by
contacting cable systems operators directly, says the number
of buys was "closer" to 600,000 (N.Y. TIMES, 1/20).
Showtime VP Marina Capurro: "This fight did $34.5 million in
PPV sales. Last year, all PPV fights did a total of $40
million." Larkin: "It's still the biggest pay-per-view
event since Tyson-Holyfield II in June of 1997. No one gets
the numbers of Mike Tyson" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 1/20).
