Nevada Commision Denies Tyson License
Jan. 29 -- The Nevada Athletic Commission refused today to reinstate Mike Tyson's boxing license, after he tried to withdraw his petition to box again in the state where he has been banned twice.
The commission members denied his request to withdraw the application, then voted 4-1 to reject his petition for a boxing license.
Tyson needed the approval of three of the five members of the commission to get his Nevada boxing license reinstated for an April 6 fight with defending heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. Tyson unsuccessfully argued that he would follow the commission's rules.
"This is the most important moment of my life as far as my fighting career is concerned," Tyson told Amy Ayoub, one of the members of the panel, before he changed his mind and asked to withdraw the petition. "And this [following the regulations of the commission] is something I'm truly interested in doing and being successful at. And I've been punished before severely in an infraction of the law … And I don't want to experience that again."
A Troubled History
His license was first revoked in June 1997, after he was disqualified for biting off a chunk of Evander Holyfield's ear during a championship match in front of thousands at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden.
In October 1998, he persuaded the commission to reinstate his license, only to lose it again in 1999 after he hit Francois Botha after the bell in a comeback fight.
Initially, Tyson didn't plan to appear personally before the commission, but that changed after last week's brawl in New York, in which he threw a punch at Lewis' bodyguard just before a news conference to promote their planned match-up. Lewis said Tyson bit him on the leg, a claim Tyson has denied.
After the melee, Tyson made lewd gestures and yelled expletives at a journalist who suggested he needed a straitjacket.
That prompted the commission to order Tyson to appear in person if he wanted to get a license.
Today, Bob Fess, one of Tyson's attorneys, said the outburst would have never happened if Lewis' entourage had not provoked Tyson during what he called a staged "stare-down."
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