Tyson Looks to L.A.

LAS VEGAS —  Shelly Finkel, Mike Tyson’s manager, says his fighter will apply to the California State Athletic Commission for a license to fight heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis at Staples Center sometime this spring.

The next commission meeting is Feb. 9.

“We would very much like to hold the fight there,” Finkel said.

“It’s up to the commission,” Staples Center president Tim Leiweke said. “Assuming they approve, yes, we would be interested, but it’s such a fluid situation right now.”

Tyson had signed to fight Lewis on April 6 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, but MGM was forced to drop out Tuesday after the Nevada State Athletic Commission denied Tyson a boxing license by a 4-1 vote.

If Staples Center is occupied on the date requested, the Forum would also be a possibility, according to Leiweke.

He conceded he couldn’t match the site fee of more than $10 million put up by the MGM Grand.

“That site fee was based on gaming revenue,” Leiweke said.

No one in the commission office wouId comment Wednesday, but it appears it will be extremely tough to get commission approval. The California commissioners will be under pressure to follow the lead of the Nevada commissioners, who--in rejecting Tyson’s bid--cited his failure to continue the psychological treatment and medication prescribed for him three and a half years ago as a condition for fighting in Nevada, along with his role last week in a brawl with Lewis at a New York news conference.

California commissioners may have even more serious concerns to deal with. Las Vegas police revealed Wednesday they are investigating a second felony rape allegation against Tyson.

Last week, Las Vegas police said they had found probable cause to charge Tyson with sexual assault in an earlier case. According to police and prosecutors, a woman they said had been in a six-month romantic relationship with the former two-time heavyweight champion went to a Las Vegas hospital in mid-September with injuries she said she suffered when Tyson raped her at his Las Vegas home.

The newest allegation concerns a November 2000 incident with a woman police identified as an out-of-state resident in her 20s.

Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell told the Associated Press it could be “a few days or several months” before his office decides whether to prosecute either of the cases.

Referring to the second allegation, Booker Evans, a Tyson attorney, said legal authorities “have committed to allow Mr. Tyson’s legal team to present favorable evidence prior to any charges being filed.”

With the allegations hanging over him, the only venues open to Tyson might be overseas. Promoters from South Africa joined those from Denmark Wednesday in expressing interest in the fight.

“We’re not in a position to charge him yet,” Bell said. “We would be reluctant to let someone leave the country if we had any doubt we could find him if we needed to, but he’s easy to find.”

In London, Lewis expressed an interest in going ahead with the match after appearing to waver in a statement released after Tuesday’s hearing.

“My main aim for staying around is Mike Tyson,” Lewis said. “It’s the last notch on my belt, icing on my cake. I would love it to happen before I retire.”

Lewis said he required a tetanus shot after Tyson bit a chunk of flesh out of his left thigh during last week’s melee. But the champion described as “minor setbacks” the brawl and the Nevada commission ruling.

“He took a bite of me,” Lewis said, “and I want to take a bite of him.”