Tyson denied license
to fight in Texas

Boxing bad boy Mike Tyson has been denied a license to fight in Texas, state officials said on Friday, meaning he will have to go elsewhere for a proposed bout with heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.

Bill Kuntz, executive director of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, said in a statement that he denied Tyson's application based on his history of misconduct.

"During the last five years, he has bitten an opponent, refused a pre-fight drug test, ignored the commands of a referee and assaulted ringside law enforcement officials. In the boxing ring, Mr. Tyson is a repeat offender," Kuntz said.

"I have no confidence that his future behavior would differ from his past behavior," he said.

Tyson, 35, was scheduled to fight Britain's Lewis in Las Vegas on April 6 in potentially the richest bout in history, but it was cancelled when Nevada officials refused Tyson a license.

They made their decision after a brawl at a New York press conference in which Lewis that Tyson bit him.

Tyson, looking for a place to hold the fight, has applied for a boxing license in several other states, but has either been denied or is running into opposition.

The state of Georgia's boxing commission granted him a license on Wednesday, but the agency said on Friday it would reconsider its decision at the request of the state's governor.

Boxing experts have said the fight purse could reach a record $150 million.

Tyson has a long history of legal problems, including a 1992 rape conviction that landed him in prison, and is currently a suspect in a Las Vegas sexual assault, police have said.

In 1997, he was banned from boxing for a year after biting off part of Evander Holyfield's ear during a world title fight.