Editorial: Iron Mike versus Nevada’s iron will

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002 | 8:59 a.m.

The Nevada Athletic Commission sent a strong message Tuesday when it voted 4-1 to deny Mike Tyson's request for reinstatement of his boxing license. The commission demonstrated that Nevada respects sport as a contest that requires character and trustworthiness in addition to athleticism. The commission showed its resolve in 1997 when it fined Tyson $3 million and took away his Nevada license after he bit Evander Holyfield's ear during a Las Vegas fight. In 1998, when the commission believed that Tyson could reform himself by getting professional help, it restored his license. But when Tyson stood before the commissioners Tuesday, asking that his now expired license be reinstated so that he could fight April 6 at the MGM Grand, four of the five commissioners agreed that Tyson's pattern of uncontrolled rage poses too much of a risk to referees or anyone else around him. They put the integrity of the sport above the fight's potential $100 million-plus economic impact on Southern ! Nevada.

Commission members expressed some tolerance of the theatrics involving Tyson and Lennox Lewis during a Jan. 22 press conference in New York. It was what happened afterward that the four commissioners -- John Bailey, Amy Ayoub, Dr. Tony Alamo and Dr. Flip Homansky -- found so intolerable. They saw that once again Tyson exhibited uncontrolled anger despite the professional help he had received. While Luther Mack, the commission's chairman, voted in favor of a license for Tyson, the commission as a whole acted correctly in not allowing Tyson to withdraw his application once it became clear that he was going to lose the vote. A commission-sanctioned withdrawal could have allowed Tyson to save face and might have helped him get a license to fight in another state. The sport of boxing was well served Tuesday when the commission's iron will prevailed against Iron Mike.