|
New
Jersey Denies Tyson License to Fight
By washingtonpost.com from the Web, from Bergen Record
(NJ), April 13, 2003
Controversial boxer Mike Tyson has been
knocked out of a proposed fight at the Meadowlands after taking a verbal beating
from various New Jersey politicians on Friday.
The New Jersey Sports and Exposition
Authority's decision to back away from a potentially lucrative doubleheader --
which might have featured Tyson and heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis in separate
fights June 21 -- came hours after Senate co-President Richard Codey (D)
released a letter demanding the state refuse to grant Tyson a boxing license.
"Saddam Hussein is more likely to
reform himself than Mike Tyson," wrote Codey, who threatened to introduce a
Senate resolution calling for the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board to
reject Tyson's application. "Allowing Mike Tyson to fight here in New Jersey
would obliterate our claim as a state with standards of decency where women
should be treated with respect."
In March 2002, Tyson applied and was
granted a license to box Lewis in the District. The fight ended up taking place
in Memphis last June.
Tyson is a convicted rapist who also is
infamous for biting off part of Evander Holyfield's ear during a heavyweight
championship bout in 1997.
George Zoffinger, the often-outspoken
head of the sports authority, said little about the agency's backpedaling.
"I spoke to a number of state
administration officials, and we decided that it wasn't the best of times to try
something like this," Zoffinger said. "It's fair to say that a number of state
senators and other people whose opinions we value weighed in on the issue. I can
see all sides of this thing, and I'm willing to listen to other people."
The sports authority's decision was
hailed by Elizabeth Volz, president of the New Jersey chapter of the National
Organization for Women.
"Sports figures are role models to
young people, and if Mike Tyson is permitted to come here as a sports star, it
says that his behavior is something to be modeled," Volz said.
Zoffinger said he still hoped to
attract the Lewis fight but acknowledged that promoter Gary Shaw -- who promotes
Tyson and Lewis -- insists that both fight on the same night.
Codey and Sen. William Gormley (R) were
the leading voices of outrage in 1998, the last time Tyson applied for a license
in New Jersey. The Gormleys are brothers, and the chairman can overrule any
license application approved by control board Commissioner Larry Hazzard.
Tyson would have had an ally in Hazzard,
who issues boxing licenses for the state. Hazzard said Friday -- shortly before
Zoffinger's announcement -- that Tyson should be treated like any boxer.
"They send in a license [application];
I send it through the state police for a background check to see if there are
any active warrants," he said. "If there are none, they get a license. I see no
reason not to license Mike Tyson at this time."
|
