DATE: Friday, April 18, 1997                TAG: 9704180826

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE:    - STEVE CARLSON

                                            LENGTH:   29 lines

FIGHT A BIG HIT ON PAY-PER-VIEW

As promoters and TVKO officials had projected, last Saturday's Pernell ``Sweetpea'' Whitaker-Oscar De La Hoya fight apparently will set a record as the most-watched, highest-grossing non-heavyweight fight ever broadcast on pay-per-view.

Mark Taffet, the senior vice president of TVKO, said Thursday that the fight for the World Boxing Council welterweight title did a projected 860,000 buys and grossed $36 million. Taffet said that the projections are based on a sample of 50 percent of the cable systems, and that final numbers won't be in for about nine months. But, based on past performance, those surveys are fairly accurate, he said.

``Huge,'' Taffet said of the sales. ``Clearly the highest-grossing pay-per-view event of all time.''

Taffet said the previous record for a non-heavyweight pay-per-view event was 740,000 buys for the 1993 Whitaker-Julio Cesar Chavez fight, which grossed $26 million.

``I think a Whitaker-De La Hoya rematch will be a very attractive fight and generate a significant amount of revenue,'' Taffet said. ``Now it's up to the promoters to see what kind of deals they can bring about.''

Taffet said he would also like to see Whitaker-Chavez II, or Whitaker vs. Terry Norris.

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