Battered sport in need of a hit

Don King, the co-promoter of Saturday's Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield heavyweight title unification fight here, has called on the two men to produce a performance to restore what he describes as "the battered image of professional boxing".

Having presided over many of the sport's biggest heavyweight events since playing a key role in setting up the Rumble in the Jungle, Muhammad Ali versus George Foreman, a quarter of a century ago, King knows better than most that profit depends on public fascination. And it is rumoured that demand in the lucrative American pay-per-view television market has been slow for Saturday's fight.

Home Box Office, the American cable television network, agreed to deal with King despite initial reluctance because of its worries over the possibility of a public backlash against the sport, and particularly King, after the draw verdict in the first fight at Madison Square Garden in March. It seems its concerns were well founded.

The first Holyfield-Lewis fight sold to 1.2 million homes, the eighth highest event in terms of audience in pay-per-view history, but HBO insiders will be delighted if 800,000 pay $49.95 this time. Rematches frequently disappoint, and the public knows it.

Though none of the inquiries into the circumstances of the draw has laid proof of malpractice at King's door, the whiff of corruption within boxing has not been as marked since the days when the Mob were pulling the strings.

King may not have prevailed on the judges to give Holyfield, whom he promotes, the draw and the chance to earn another $15 million in a rematch. But one of the abiding memories of a chaotic post-fight press conference is of the bejewelled, dinner-suited King bellowing: "We can dance again", in instant recognition of the possibility of yet more dollars, while Lewis and his camp seethed over the injustice of it all.

Since then the King-promoted welterweight Felix Trinidad was the recipient of another hugely contentious verdict when the judges decided he had done enough to outpoint Oscar de la Hoya in their title unification contest in September. Here also are two fighters who seem certain to be invited to "dance again".

Recently, Mike Tyson, with his now customary rule infringements, and Naseem Hamed, with his role in an unsavoury brawl masquerading as a world title fight, have played their part in lowering boxing in public esteem.

King has recognised that the trend must be reversed before an increasingly cynical public switches off for good, and says: "The fight game is in troubled water and we would be stupid not to recognise that. Right now we're taking a lot of bumps and bruises.

"The pressure is on the commissioners and the fighters this weekend. This time there has to be no questions. There has to be a decisive win for one of the two men or a knockout.

"There can't be any posturing or posing. Evander and Lennox have to come out fighting, and it is up to them to smooth the waters." King said nothing about the governing bodies and TV executives - and promoters - who manifestly have failed to sort out the ills of boxing.

international Boxing Federation president Bob Lee was yesterday indicted on 32 federal charges of taking bribes to fix his sanctioning body's rankings to create title bouts for fighters whose promoters made pay-offs.