Tyson faces lengthy ban

MIKE TYSON is set to be told today that he will have to appear before a full disciplinary hearing of the Nevada State Athletic Commission to discuss his disqualification against Evander Holyfield in Saturday's WBA heavyweight title fight.

The commission is likely to set a date at the end of July to give Tyson time to seek legal representation. He has been temporarily banned, with his lengthy ban from the sport.

The Nevada legislature's Senate Judiciary Committee met on Sunday morning and voted to amend its "unarmed combat legislation which covers boxing. Under new rules, ear-biting will be banned and may result in a fine of up to 50 per cent of a fighter's purse. Up till now, they could only fine Tyson 10 per cent of his

Since the fight, when Tyson was disqualified for biting Holyfield's ears, there has been no statement from the fighter or his entourage. The promoter Don King has also remained silent despite the sense of outrage which has swept the United States.

Holyfield required surgery on his right ear, where Tyson bit out a large chunk of skin and spat it on to the ring canvas. Before flying back to his home in Atlanta, Holyfield said he bore Tyson no grudge and hoped the former champion would apologise.

But Holyfield's attorney and manager, Jim Thomas, said it remained a strong possibility that Tyson might be sued for damages, especially if he is not severely published by the commissioners.

"I think Tyson's behaviour was totally inexcusable," said Thomas, "and the excuses he has tried to put forward compounds the problem. There is no possible justification for what the guy did.

"It is appropriate that he faces some negative consequences, otherwise the wrong message is sent out. Some significant sanction needs to be issued by the commission, not a slap on the wrist, to say this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated in the sport by anyone."

Thomas confirmed that Holyfield (34), would fight again before the end of the year and his opponent is likely to be either the IBF champion Michael Moorer, who beat him three years ago, or the winner of next week's WBC title contest between Lennox Lewis and Henry Akinwande.

Meanwhile, Dr Ferdi Pacheco - the former ring physician to Muhammad Ali and now a respected fight analyst on American TV - has warned that Tyson is in need of professional psychiatric help.

Pacheco was sitting at ringside, horrified by Tyson's behaviour: "He looked like a wolf that had gotten hold of a sheep. It was grisly and horrible to see. He has been a very confused individual all his life, and now he has more frustration because he knows that he is not what he was.

"You're looking at a guy who is on a high wire without a net, and watching the consequences of a man who has made a lot of money, drifting through life and living outside the law."

Pacheco left Muhammad Ali in 1976, after the fight in Manilla against Joe Frazier. He accurately predicted that Ali would do himself irreparable damage if he remained in boxing. Now he says Tyson must also distance himself from the sport.

"He lives life with no regulations. Tyson is very rich with no purpose in life and no purpose is a destructive thing to the soul. He needs professional help.

"How can he begin to get anything in perspective as long as people around him are saying the same things he's saying? He's living in an echo chamber. He says 'I'didn't do it,' and there are four guys behind him saying 'He didn't do it.' Somebody has to step in and say 'yes you did'."

Pacheco says Tyson's life will come to a violent end unless he changes direction: "He doesn't have the talent he did before he went to jail. Worse than that, he doesn't have the heart. That is a bad thing in boxing. He has a lot of money and could do a lot of good with it in the ghetto. Instead of talking about it, he should build gymnasiums and get involved with his people.

"He can't stay in boxing and help himself. He'll just spiral down into obliteration. Then it will be nasty. It's going to be ugly when Mike Tyson goes down."

Steve Collins opponent in next Saturday's WBO super middleweight title fight, American Craig Cummings, called Tyson "a disgrace" after he arrived in Glasgow yesterday.

The 29-year-old fireman, the underdog at the Kelvin Hall when Dubliner Steve Collins makes the seventh defence of his WBO super middleweight title, said: "I always fight clean, even if I am backed into a corner. There are plenty of other alternatives to biting off a piece of someone's ear.

"What happened in the Tyson fight was such a bizarre scene. What can you say about that? It was a disgrace."