Jakarta bids for Tyson-Lewis fight

A Jakarta-based American entrepreneur has proposed Indonesia's capital as host city for a fight between heavyweight boxing challenger Mike Tyson and World champion Lennox Lewis.

Ron Mullers, whose Indonesian business interests include miniature golf and Mexican restaurants, says he is making a serious bid for the lucrative event to be staged in Jakarta.

"I heard that Lebanon, the Philippines and Nigeria were entering the bidding to have this event, then I was (thinking) like why not Indonesia? We're the fourth biggest nation in the world," Mullers said.

A fight between the two boxers has had problems finding a host, having being rejected by several U.S. states because of a brawl at a Tyson-Lewis news conference in New York in January after which the Briton accused Tyson of biting him in the leg.

A pending request by Las Vegas police with prosecutors there to file sexual assault charges against Tyson, who was convicted of rape in 1992, has made the match even more of a moral and political hot potato in the United States.

Tyson, 35, had been scheduled to take on Lewis in April in the boxing Mecca of Las Vegas, but the state athletic commission refused to renew the New Yorker's lapsed licence after the news conference fracas.

Since then Tyson, who was banned from boxing for a year in 1997 for biting off part of Evander Holyfields's ear during a fight, has been scrambling to find another venue for what could be the richest fight in boxing history.

Mueller said that he had sent a letter of interest to Tyson's management team this week and convinced them his bid -- backed by Indonesian authorities -- was serious.

"I told them we have the money, we have the location, we have the support of the government and the people themselves would like to see that," said Mullers, who has lived in Jakarta for 32 years.

BIDDING BANDWAGON

Among international venues that have indicated interest in staging the fight which is likely to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the host city are Manila, Johannesburg, Copenhagen and Beirut, although Tyson's management team has said the fight is still likely to be staged in the United States.

Officials of Washington have said they may grant Tyson a boxing licence in June, but have drawn fire from parties who say it could hurt the U.S. capital's image.

If Tyson's management did select Jakarta -- a sprawling city of 12 million -- it would be the second time in history the country holds a fight between world class boxers.

In 1972, Indonesia hosted an exhibition boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Dutchman Rudy Lubbers.

"I watched that show too...I am an enormous fan of boxing," Mullers said.

Asked about the chances of Jakarta holding the event, he said they were "very, very slim and we might lose out but like my mother once said, never, ever give up."