BOXING NOTEBOOK: BOUT HAS TO FIGHT FOR SOME ATTENTION.

Byline: Michael Rosenthal Assistant Sports Editor 

Lost in the bizarre hoopla surrounding the Mike Tyson-Clifford Etienne fight last week was a little matchup between a great light heavyweight and the holder of one heavyweight title belt.

Organizers of the John Ruiz-Roy Jones Jr. fight Saturday in Las Vegas admit Tyson hindered their promotion, but they say they'll bounce back.

Promoter Don King, as recognizable as anyone in boxing, will lead a publicity blitz this week. He'll be shuttling back and forth from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to appear nightly on the Jimmy Kimmel show.

And myriad other promotions are in place to bring attention to Jones' bid to become the second light heavyweight to win a heavyweight title and the first former middleweight in more than a century to do so.

``For a major pay-per-view event, you always want two weeks of promotion and publicity devoted to the fight,'' said Mark Taffet, the senior vice president of HBO Sports. ``No doubt, the circumstances surrounding the Tyson fight last week displaced the publicity for Ruiz-Jones.

``... We knew Tyson would be a bit of a sideshow, though. We have a true megafight here, the kind that happens not once a decade but once a century because Roy was middleweight champion. We think Ruiz-Jones stands on its own.''

At the same time, Taffet and others aren't predicting wild pay-per-view numbers. They'll be happy with 500,000 buys, which is a solid figure but well below the biggest pay-per-view fights of all-time.

``I think this fight is similar to (Lennox) Lewis-(Hasim) Rahman II, Lewis-(David) Tua, (Felix) Trinidad-(Bernard) Hopkins, Trinidad-(Fernando) Vargas,'' Taffet said. ``They were all big fights and successful promotions. They were all between 400,000 and 500,000 buys, in that range.

``That's a relevant benchmark, particularly because neither Ruiz nor Jones has participated in or headlined a pay-per-view megafight.''

Why is, say, 1 million unrealistic?

``Only very special fighters like Oscar De La Hoya, Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson generate those million-plus numbers,'' Taffet said. ``And even they've participated in fights with 300,000 buys.

``Ruiz-Jones could do more than 500,000, but I feel that's an unfair barometer.''

--Top memory: Jones was asked whether the opportunity to become the first middleweight in a century to later win the heavyweight championship would be more significant than anything he's accomplished.

``The only thing I could compare it to is making the (1988) Olympic team. That's right at the top,'' said Jones, who was cheated out of a gold medal via a horrible decision by the judges.

Who: John Ruiz will face Roy Jones Jr. for Ruiz's WBA heavyweight title

When: Saturday

Where: Caesars Palace, Las Vegas

TV: Pay-per-view, telecast scheduled to start at 6 p.m.