Warlords of the ring

Published on Thursday 31 January 2002 00:00

THE decision to deny Mike Tyson a licence to fight Lennox Lewis in Las Vegas merely shifts the problem elsewhere.

A boxing match as lucrative as this one will not go short on takers, and already promoters in South Africa and Denmark have spoken of their desire to stage the bout. Tyson, for all his flaws, remains a huge box-office draw. If boxing authorities are serious about barring him from the sport, they should revoke his licence permanently. If they are not, they should let the fight go ahead - in whichever country is prepared to sanction it. Tyson is undoubtedly a troubled and despicable individual, but in the clamour to condemn him for his part in the press conference brawl with Lewis on 22 January, the British boxer’s role should not be overlooked. Tyson may have started it, but Lewis was not slow in landing some ungloved punches on the American. It should also be borne in mind that Lewis was involved in a similar incident before his last fight, when he brawled with Hasim Rahman during a television interview. With ambassadors like these, boxing is clearly in need of salvation.