Agreement finalized on Tyson-Lewis fight

Tuesday, March 26, 2002 | 1:44 a.m.

Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson will meet June 8 in Memphis for the heavyweight championship, under a deal wrapped up Monday night after weeks of on-again off-again negotiations.

Tyson adviser Shelly Finkel confirmed that an agreement had been reached and that both fighters were signed and committed to the match. Showtime cable network spokeswoman Marina Capurro also confirmed the fight was on.

The bout is expected to be held at the Pyramid arena, which will seat about 20,000. Ringside tickets will be priced as high as $2,500.

The major stumbling block - a $12.5 million site fee - reportedly had been resolved by giving local promoters in Memphis more time to get a letter of credit. Some details were still pending, but none that would derail the fight, Finkel said.

"We now have close to 11 weeks before fight and I believe everything is fine," he said.

Promoters were set to formally announce the agreement, which was finalized just before a deadline by the International Boxing Federation. The IBF had given Lewis until Monday to make the fight or else fight No. 1 contender Chris Byrd.

The much-shopped bout was in jeopardy as late as Friday when local promoters couldn't come up with the site fee after a bank refused to issue a letter of credit because of "moral issues."

Production representatives of the HBO and Showtime networks were in Memphis on Monday to tour the Pyramid arena in advance of the pay-per-view telecast. Arena general manager Alan Freeman, however, said he had no signed contract to host the fight.

"Nobody's told me anything," Freeman said.

The fight originally was going to be April 6 in Las Vegas, but Nevada boxing authorities refused to give Tyson a boxing license after an outburst at a January press conference.

Finkel said the delay will help sell the fight because considerable publicity has been generated while the fight was being shopped around and negotiated.

"We've had a seven-week commercial basically since the press conference in New York," Finkel said.

Tyson and Lewis each are reportedly guaranteed $17.5 million to fight for the IBF and WBC titles Lewis holds, and could earn millions more if the fight grabs the attention of the public.

Promoters also stand to make a bundle, with projections that the fight could gross $100 million from the site fee and pay-per-view sales.

The fight not only had to be made Monday to meet the IBF deadline, but it was also facing other deadlines. Cable operators needed to keep the date open, and organizers generally need at least two months to properly promote the fight.