A year after bite, Tyson seeks license
Reinstatement hearing begins Wednesday in New Jersey
Posted: Tuesday July 28, 1998 04:52 PM
| |
The three-member panel will have 45 days to decide whether Tyson has "good character, honesty, integrity and responsibility," as required by state boxing law AP |
TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- A year and a month after the bite that got him banned, Mike Tyson is seeking to get his career back in New Jersey.
New Jersey regulators are being asked to decide whether Tyson has paid his debt for biting Evander Holyfield and can return to the ring.
Tyson, his wife, a psychiatrist and fellow boxers Bobby Czyz and Chuck Wepner will testify on his behalf at an administrative hearing Wednesday before the state Athletic Control Board.
The three-member panel will have 45 days to decide whether Tyson has "good character, honesty, integrity and responsibility," as required by state boxing law. No decision is expected Wednesday, according to spokesman Roger Shatzkin.
"Basically, we want to show what Mike has done and has not done in the last year," said Tyson lawyer Anthony Fusco Jr. "We want to show he's competent to accept a license and that that kind of behavior that went on in the Holyfield fight won't reoccur.
"You can't bury somebody for the rest of his life for one foul, although it was a significant foul," he said.
But questions have been raised whether New Jersey -- and not Nevada -- should be state to grant Tyson a license. Some people, including regulators in both states, say Tyson should return to Nevada for his regulatory repentance.
Fighting for Holyfield's WBA heavyweight title on June 28, 1997, Tyson inexplicably bit his opponent's right ear. After a four-minute delay, the fight resumed and he bit him on the left ear, prompting referee Mills Lane to disqualify Tyson.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission swiftly revoked Tyson's license to box and fined him $3 million, leaving him eligible to apply for reinstatement after one year.
According to Fusco, Tyson decided to apply for a license in New Jersey because he likes fighting in Atlantic City and has ties to the state, being a former resident of Bernardsville.
But there also was the fear by Tyson's handlers that Nevada regulators would make him wait longer to get his license, and a further layoff would diminish his skills. Tyson adviser Shelly Finkel told the Las Vegas Sun last week that he did not think Nevada would have re-licensed the fighter.
Asked about the reports that Nevada would have delayed granting Tyson a license, Marc Ratner, the commission's executive director, said: "It is unfair to prejudge what the Nevada commission would have done, just as it would be unfair for the Nevada commission to prejudge what would be done at this hearing."
The move to New Jersey has drawn criticism from boxing insiders and regulators.
"They should direct him to Nevada, which revoked the license in the first place," boxing promoter Bob Arum said. "Let Nevada make the first ruling. To do anything otherwise is to destroy the sport of boxing."
Under federal law, one state does not have to abide by suspensions levied in other states.
Yet Nevada wants other states to respect its ban. New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco said a "yes" vote would violate the spirit of cooperation between states.
"If any state breaks ranks with Nevada and awards Mr. Tyson a license at this point, it would severely undermine the objective of discipline and weaken the solidarity we are trying to achieve through interstate cooperation in the policing of boxing," Vacco wrote last week in a letter to New Jersey Attorney General Peter Verniero.
Fusco says Tyson showed good faith in abiding by the Nevada ban by not applying for licenses in other jurisdictions or overseas.
"Legally, Mike was entitled the next day to apply for a license in another state or another country. He didn't do that. He waited a year. That was a self-imposed exile on his part," Fusco said.
For New Jersey regulators, it's a difficult position. Tyson, one of the sport's biggest draws, can still make millions -- for himself, his opponents and his promoters.
A Tyson fight in Atlantic City would mean more revenue for its casinos and for the state. But Arum said it would make the state look bad.
"New Jersey will look terrible, ... that in order to get Tyson -- who will, in all probability, attract a good crowd for his first fight back -- they'll do something like this," he said.
Holyfield still supports Tyson's right to return to boxing.
"We don't have any ax to grand with Mike Tyson," said Holyfield lawyer Jim Thomas. "Evander thinks a year sitting out has a been a substantial penalty. He paid it."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
| 
