Tough ticket? How about impossible ticket

Steve Carp

Friday, June 27, 1997 | 11:17 a.m.

Want to see Saturday's Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson rematch in person at the MGM Grand Garden instead of on TV?

Bring a fully loaded credit card or a bankroll of greenbacks thick enough to choke a horse.

That's what it's going to take to be part of the 16,331 who will witness the most ballyhooed fight in years.

Connections may not be enough. Celebrity status? You better be on the Michael Jordan-Tiger Woods level. The MGM has been turning people down left and right for the past few weeks.

"This is the biggest event I've ever been involved with," said Bill Doak, the MGM Grand's media relations director. "This fight has been sold out since the first day and even with the postponement, the interest never stopped.

"There's only a finite amount of seats. And once those seats are gone, they're gone."

Some of the select seats are reserved for the casino's high-end players. Other properties bought tickets long ago to satisfy their customers. If you're a big hitter, chances are you were contacted long ago about coming to town this weekend.

"We've identified our high-end players," Doak said. "And they are accounted for."

Same thing at the other hotels.

"Like everyone, we weren't able to get as many tickets as we would like, but overall, we were able to take care of our customers," said Caesars Palace spokesman Phil Cooper.

"It's a good news-bad news situation. It's good that so many of our top customers are coming out. The bad news was that tickets were so scarce."

But that's good news for the ticket brokers, who figure to have a field day with the fight.

Want to sit close to ringside? A $1,500 ticket in the third row is going for $8,000.

At VIP Tickets, the phones are ringing off the hook.

"It's the biggest fight of all time," said a VIP employee who identified himself as Harris. "There's tremendous demand. The phones are ringing nonstop.

"But we'll be able to satisfy all our clients."

At Western States Ticket Service, be prepared to pay $600 and up to see the fight. And you won't be close to the action either.

"We don't have ringside," said a Western States employee. "They're impossible to get unless you know Don King."

Or are among the 80 celebrities on the official MGM comp list. Some of the show-biz types expected at ringside are Madonna, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Jack Nicholson, Ben Gazzara, Al Pacino, Tiger Woods, Donald Trump, Woody Harrelson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jeff Goldblum and Ellen DeGeneres.