SLAM! Sports
SLAM! Boxing
COLUMNS
CANADIAN PUNCH
UPPERCUTS
LOOKING BACK
GALLERIES
INTERACTIVE
ALSO ON SLAM!
New law serves notice to boxing
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Stung by the fallout from the Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield fight, Nevada officials put the boxing world on notice Friday that it better behave or be prepared to pay.Gov. Bob Miller signed into law a bill that would allow the state to seize the entire purse of boxers guilty of unsportmanslike conduct in the ring.
The Nevada Legislature passed the bill following the June 28 heavyweight title fight between Holyfield and Tyson, who was disqualified for biting the champ's ears.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday revoked Tyson's boxing licence and fined him $3 million, 10 per cent of his purse. That was the maximum allowed to be seized under the old state law.
If Tyson could have lost all $30 million, he might have thought twice about biting Holyfield, Miller said.
"Someone should not be able to walk in the ring and walk away with $30 million after two rounds and two bites of ear," said Sen. Mark James, a Las Vegas Republican who sponsored the bill.
As originally drafted, the bill would have allocated any fines to domestic violence and child abuse programs. Instead, the new bill calls for payments to be made to the state's general fund. Miller said there were concerns about how the fines could be allocated to the various violence programs and which ones would benefit.
Miller said he decided to rush the signing of the bill when he realized another heavyweight championship fight was scheduled Saturday at Lake Tahoe, Nev. In that bout, Lennox Lewis defends his WBC title against Henry Akinwande.