BOXING: Lennox Lewis versus Mike Tyson could still go ahead in America, even if the Nevada State Athletic Commission deny Tyson a licence to fight today.
Nevada's five-man panel will be asked to adjudicate on whether Tyson deserves his annual renewal of his state licence following last week's display of rage at a press conference intended to announce the April 6th Las Vegas fight.
If the Nevada commission decide to deny Tyson's licence application, which was made by his manager Shelly Finkel last week, he would not necessarily be frozen out of fighting elsewhere in the US.
Other states would only be duty-bound to follow Nevada's lead if they voted to revoke a licence. Tomorrow they are not voting whether to revoke, but merely whether they should grant him his annual licence to fight in the state. Still, a rebuff from the Nevada panel would be a major blow to the fight.
Such is the scale of the intended promotion that only the Las Vegas casinos seem truly capable of bankrolling it - and if Madison Square Garden in New York could not or would not provide a viable alternative, the chances are the fight would either take place somewhere in the Far East or nowhere at all.
The World Boxing Council, whose elevation of Tyson to top contender status effectively set the ball rolling towards a fight with Lewis, said they would back the fight wherever it was held.
President Jose Sulaiman said: "The World Boxing Council ordered this mandatory fight, which will be sanctioned by our organisation in any city or country where it is held."
The International Boxing Federation and the International Boxing Organisation, whose titles Lewis also holds, have been silent on the issue thus far, but their responses are largely irrelevant. Lewis versus Tyson is so big it would take place with or without the sanctioning bodies.
Tyson faces an indictment for sexual assault after the Clark County District Attorney's Office received notification from the Las Vegas Police Department they had enough evidence to proceed.
He is also under investigation for being photographed in Cuba, a country which US citizens are forbidden to visit. When Tyson saw the photographers, he hurled Christmas tree baubles at them.
