Nevada board rejects Tyson licence bid

Nevada state officials denied Mike Tyson a boxing licence on Tuesday, thereby barring his planned April 6 fight with world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in Las Vegas.

The decision, which came as a surprise to many in Las Vegas because it will cost the city millions of dollars in revenue, opens the way for a search for an alternative venue for the bout, which the World Boxing Council (WBC) has said it would sanction outside Nevada.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission voted 4-1 to reject Tyson's licence bid at the end of a three-hour hearing in which they grilled the boxer repeatedly over his scandal-marred career, and after he failed to convince them that he deserved another chance to change his unpredictable ways.

"I'm not Mother Teresa, but I'm not Charles Manson either," Tyson told them at one point. "Just treat me equally. I don't care if you've got to ban me for life. Just ban someone else for doing the same thing."

The Nevada decision came a week after Tyson's latest public outburst, when he triggered a brawl at a New York press conference by throwing a wild punch at a bodyguard of Lewis, the current WBC and International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion.

"Nobody wanted this fight to happen more than me," said commissioner Tony Alamo, who made the motion to deny Tyson, 36, his licence and voted with the majority.

"Unfortunately, his actions and lack of control put him in this position."

Tyson -- who left the hearing room before the commissioners voted on his licence application -- slipped out of the building by a back entrance to avoid a waiting crowd, telling reporters that he was not surprised by the decision and that he participated only at his manager's insistence.

OPEN MIND

Although most of the commissioners -- who are appointed by Nevada's governor -- said before the hearing they were keeping an open mind about Tyson until he made his case before them, the twice former champion faced tough questions and often sparred with the officials.

Tyson needed to convince a majority of the panel that he deserved the chance to fight again in the state despite a decade of antics, including biting a chunk out of Evander Holyfield's ear in a 1997 bout, that have often overshadowed his fearsome presence in the ring.

The panel focused repeatedly on Tyson's inability to control his emotions, but steered clear of a local woman's allegations of rape against him.

Las Vegas prosecutors are considering filing rape charges against Tyson, who was convicted in 1992 of raping a Miss Black America contestant, and are expected to make a decision later this week.

Tyson's handlers said at the outset of the hearing that the American would not answer questions about that matter to protect his rights against self-incrimination under the U.S. Constitution.

During a 15-minute presentation, Tyson attorney Bob Faiss defended his client, saying he was from a long line of American boxers -- including former champions John L. Sullivan and Jack Dempsey -- who were not always gentlemen in or out of the ring.

Tyson, facing sometimes confrontational questions from boxing board member Amy Ayoub, defended his role in the New York press conference by saying that Lewis's bodyguard provoked him during a scripted event to promote the fight.

"My intentions were not to hurt anybody until I was struck (by the bodyguard)," Tyson said. "Then I struck back."

He bristled when Ayoub chastised Tyson for portraying himself as a "victim" throughout his life, despite a boxing career in which he had earned over $200 million.

HORROR STORIES

"You don't know me," Tyson told Ayoub, whose name he did not appear to know. "You don't know if I'm a victim or not. You don't know my horror stories."

During the course of the hearing which Tyson had described as the most important moments of his life, the boxer was questioned about his reported use of the drug Zoloft to control his violent mood swings.

Asked about a psychiatric evaluation, Tyson said: "I'm crazy but I'm not crazy like that. I don't want to kill or rape nobody or nothing like that."

After a majority of the commissioners indicated during their closing remarks that they would vote to deny Tyson a licence, Faiss hustled the boxer from the room for a 10-minute conference and returned to declare that he wanted to withdraw the application.

But the board refused, voting instead to deny Tyson his licence. Ayoub said she was voting with the majority in part to send a message to the children who looked up to the fighter, who became the youngest-ever world heavyweight champion at the age of 20.

"I just want to be able to look at them and say: 'We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour. Not in boxing and not in Nevada'," she said.

Commissioner John Bailey said that while Tyson had done boxing "a lot of good" over the years, his continued wild behaviour had begun to tarnish the sport.

Popular opinion had been stacked against Tyson having his Nevada licence renewed. In a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll conducted last weekend, 64 percent of respondents said Tyson should be banned from boxing.

But the stakes were also high for Las Vegas, which was been hit hard by the travel crisis that took hold after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

Promoters have said the fight would carry a $150 million purse, making it the richest bout in boxing history.