Columnist Tim Graham: In pay-per-view buys, Tyson a real featherweight

Tim Graham's media notebook appears Wednesday. His page 1 column appears Thursda' y. Reach him at 259-4078 or [email protected]

Mike Tyson's pay-per-view performance was as poor as his ring performance.

Figures released Tuesday place the number of pay-per-view buys for Tyson's fifth-round knockout of Frans Botha Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden between 600,000 and 750,000.

Tyson's two fights with Evander Holyfield produced more than twice as many buys at 1.6 and 1.99 million.

Barry Gould, editor of sports media newsletter TV Sports File, came up with the low-end estimate after polling cable companies. Showtime, which operates pay-per-view outlet SET, offered the high-end figure.

Showtime will replay the fight this Saturday night.

"It's way more than (600,000)," Showtime vice president Jay Larkin told USA Today. "It's the lowest in terms of the number of homes that bought a Tyson fight, but 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."

Not so, claimed Bob Arum, who promotes WBC welterweight champ Oscar De La Hoya.

"It's less than Oscar does on his fights," Arum said, "which is incredible because this guy was doing triple the numbers of Oscar before."

The reasons for the relatively meager audience could stem from a number of factors. Michael Jordan's retirement grabbed most of the attention last week and the fight happened the night before the NFL conference championship games. Tyson's foul-mouthed interviews in the days leading up to the fight probably didn't help.

According to Arum, the disappointing pay-per-view turnout is the result of Tyson's act wearing thin on the public.

"The reaction of the people is 'We've had it with this guy,' " Arum said. "There's no earthly reason to spend money to see a bad apple like this guy.

"Tyson's attitude the whole week of the fight is 'I can do whatever I want, treat people however I want, use foul language. But you're still going to pay to watch me fight.'

"The people are sending a message to him."

Arum claimed the lackluster performance against Botha may have doomed Tyson's marketability. Botha won every round on two judges' cards and all but one on the other.

"If this guy wasn't a moron, this Botha, he would have beat him," Arum said.

With the perception Tyson is as beatable as ever, Tyson's next couple of opponents aren't likely to be stalwarts, thereby ensuring another lucrative Holyfield rematch. That means upcoming bouts will be increasingly difficult for SET to promote.

"They're going to see great, great erosion as they go on," Arum said of pay-per-view turnouts. "These low figures tell Showtime, (Tyson adviser) Shelly Finkel and the MGM that if they put (Tyson) in the ring with another guy like Botha you're not even going to do the 600,000. You're going to do a lot less.

"What he should do is go to Showtime and have them televise his fights for free. He can say 'See my improvement, see how I am, and it's absolutely free.' Maybe then people will get interested again.

"As it stands now, it's all tapioca for him unless he does this."

Larkin, however, contended Tyson is as marketable as ever. He is banking that fans will tune in to see if Tyson gets beat -- or causes a near-riot like he did at the end of the first round.

"As to the public not caring about Tyson," Larkin said, "I don't agree. I think this fight will bring people back to see him."

* STATIC: CBS scored its highest football rating of the year on Sunday, when the Denver Broncos beat the New York Jets 23-10 for the AFC title. The game scored a 26.6 rating and a 48 share. The numbers also showed increases over last year's title games on NBC and FOX. ... Former Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer was named NFL analyst for ESPN2. He will join the network Feb. 9 for its coverage of the Browns' expansion draft. ... Fox Sports Net again will carry NFL Europe League games, starting April 17. But the league title game has graduated to the big network. Fox will televise the World Bowl June 27.

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