|
|
|
| February 14, 2002 | Thursday | Zilhaj 1, 1422 |
Atlanta may host Tyson-Lewis bout
LONDON, Feb 13: Mike Tyson could face world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in Atlanta in June after Tyson, who recently had an application to fight in Las Vegas denied, was granted a boxing licence in Georgia.
“A boxing licence has been issued to Mike Tyson,” Georgia Boxing Commission administrator Tom Mishou said in a recorded message.
“Atlanta is being seriously considered as a location for that show (Tyson-Lewis). I have heard a tentative date of June 8 and the venue would be the Georgia Dome,” Mishou said.
In an interview with USA Today Mishou said the Georgia Dome had already put up a $13 million site fee.
Lewis was meant to meet Tyson in Las Vegas in April but the bout, which could be the richest fight in history, was derailed when Nevada officials refused Tyson a licence. Their decision followed a brawl at a New York news conference during which Lewis alleges Tyson bit him.
Gary Shaw, whose Main Events company promote Lewis, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday that he had heard nothing about the fight in Atlanta but did not rule it out.
Adrian Ogun, Lewis’s business adviser, and Jerome Anderson, the chief executive of the Sport Entertainment and Media Group Lewis’s management company, were not available for comment.
Georgia last staged a a heavyweight title bout in 1998 when hometown hero Evander Holyfield beat Vaughn Bean.
Lewis’s former manager Frank Maloney said he was tired of the constant changes in the fight’s status. He told Reuters: “It’s off, it’s on again, it’s here, it’s there. It’s getting a bit tiring.
“He’s been given a licence. There are 50 states in America and one of them was bound to give him a licence. What will be interesting is it will show which one of the fighters really wants the fight and which one doesn’t.”
Tyson’s former promoter Frank Warren says only Lewis, 36, refusing to fight will stop the heavyweight contest going ahead.
“Lewis and Tyson have both signed a contract. So whether Lewis wants to get out of the fight that can only be done if they can break the contract. If he did and it was found that he broke it illegally then Tyson and everyone can sue Lewis for damages,” Warren told Sky Sports