Fight fans flocking to sign up for PPV

Believe it or not, there once was a time when the only way you could watch a major fight without a ticket was in a movie theater.

And it wasn't all that long ago, either. When Sugar Ray Leonard fought Thomas Hearns at Caesars Palace in 1989, closed circuit television was the medium of choice for the millions who wanted to see the fight.

Today, it's as simple as clicking a button on your remote control or picking up your telephone. And you don't have to leave your living room to watch the proceedings.

If there's a word to describe the hype surrounding Saturday's welterweight world championship fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad, it's "convenience."

Never has it been easier for a fight fan to take part in the action. If you have cable TV, you're set. Own a satellite dish? No problem. Just pony up $49.95, sit back and relax.

The much-anticipated fight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center never had a public sale for tickets. So the only way to see it was to spend upwards of $4,000 on a fight-hotel package or buy the pay per view.

Guess which option was more viable?

And that has made life relatively easy for Bob Arum, whose Top Rank, Inc., is in charge of promoting De La Hoya-Trinidad. Arum has not had to do the usual hyping to push the PPV because in this age of the Internet, with its many chat rooms and other vehicles to promote interest, the public basically is doing Arum's job for him.

"It's amazing," he said. "The technology has changed everything."

So much so that Arum isn't put off one bit by the noticeable lack of print media coverage for the fight nationwide, though things figure to pick up with today's final pre-fight press conference at the Paris hotel-casino.

"It hasn't hurt the promotion one bit," he said. "The phones (to buy the PPV) are ringing off the hook."

Arum tells the story of his first venture into boxing back in 1966 when Muhammad Ali fought George Chuvalo in Toronto. The transmission from Canada was fed to a studio in New York, a tape was made, rushed to Kennedy Airport and sent on its way to England so the fans there could see the fight.

"That was worth $50,000," Arum said. "Back then, there were no satellites, so if we missed the plane to England, we were screwed."

No such worries exist for Saturday. The fight is expected to set a record for a non-heavyweight pay-per-view event. And if early indications mean anything, the record of just under two million buys for the second Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight could be challenged.

"We're seeing very strong numbers early," Arum said. "In Puerto Rico, 30 percent of the pay-per-view capacity is already bought and they're expecting that to be close to 80 percent come fight night.

"There are 43 million homes in the United States. If we do three percent, that's 1.3 million. We're thinking this may do 4-5 percent."

The largest non-heavyweight PPV fight was the 1997 De La Hoya-Pernell Whitaker fight at the Thomas & Mack Center. That one did 850,000 total buys, ranking it ninth all-time.

"It's not even an issue," Arum said of the non-heavyweight PPV record going down come Saturday. "It's going to leave every non-heavyweight fight in the dust.

"The question is, how close does it come to the heavyweight pay per views?"

So how close can De La Hoya-Trinidad come to matching, if not overtaking Tyson-Holyfield II?

"It's impossible to predict," Arum said. "There's such great interest in this fight and it's been building for years."

Lou DiBella, vice president of HBO Sports, which is handling the PPV for the fight, said easy access only helps sales.

"There's no question about it," DiBella said. "We'll have in excess of 40 million homes capable of taking this fight. Somewhere down the line, every house will be accessible."

DiBella's not ready to announce the fight as being a record. But the early interest adds to the intrigue.

"The early numbers are sensational, but I'm not even thinking about records at this point," he said, refusing to divulge what the buy rate has been thus far. "But they don't mean much because it's such a small percentage of the overall numbers.

"It is an indication of momentum. And compared to other big fights, it's tracking very well."

The demographics certainly won't hurt the numbers. The true boxing fan wants to see Trinidad take down De La Hoya while the average sports fan, having been exposed to the hype online, on radio talk shows and in the print media, will likely buy the fight more out of curiosity than out of loyalty to either fighter.

As for the loyalty factor, the growth in this country's Hispanic population over the years certainly adds to the interest. De La Hoya is of Mexican descent though he hasn't always been embraced by his countrymen. This is an opportunity for him to try to reconnect. Then again, his staunchest detractors may buy the fight rooting hard against him.

Trinidad is Puerto Rico's favorite son and he will enjoy tremendous support as his fans purchase the fight.

Then there's the female factor. Never has a fighter captured the hearts of women the way De La Hoya has. Be it for his good looks, the way he carries himself in the ring or the fact that he wins, a lot of women will be tuning in come Saturday.

Add it all up and you have the makings for a record night.

"You have a fight where the outcome is in doubt," DiBella said. "Whenever you have that kind of fight that is 50-50, you're going to have a lot of interest."

Arum said, "It figures to do unbelievable numbers."

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