Protest groups deal Tyson new blow

David Smith13 April 2012

Mike Tyson was today facing a knockout blow to his hopes of challenging world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in Washington as protest groups began mounting a fierce campaign to have the fight banned from being held in the District of Columbia.

Tyson was yesterday given the green light to make a formal application for a licence to fight in Washington by the capital's Boxing and Wrestling Commission.

That put him on track to face Lewis at the 20,600 capacity MCI Centre, home of Michael Jordan's Washington Wizards basketball team, on Saturday 8 June.

But after the three members of the commission voted unanimously to "move forward" in allowing Tyson to submit a licence application, women's action groups immediately mobilised to stage a demonstration about the possible presence in a Washington boxing ring of the sport's most controversial figure.

The 35-year-old American is a convicted rapist and is facing the possibility of being charged on two new counts of rape in Las Vegas where he has a luxury home.

Terry O'Neill, of the National Organisation of Women, said: "Tyson is a man who has an appalling history of violence toward women. This is not a man who should be held up as a role model for the boys and girls of the District of Columbia."

The NOW and other protest organisations are set to oppose the licensing of Tyson when the Washington Boxing and Wrestling Commission meets in public to make a final decision on his application on 12 March.

As first revealed by Standard Sport, Tyson's manager Shelly Finkel has been holding protracted talks with various parties in Washington about staging a heavyweight showdown expected to generate income of up to £70 million, making it the most lucrative fight in history.

Finkel insisted that Washington remained the only American site under consideration.

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