Newz Forum: BOXING: Ky. renews Tyson license without hearing

The Associated Press

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Gov. Ernie Fletcher intends to reorganize the Kentucky Athletic Commission after Mike Tyson's boxing license was quietly renewed.

Tyson's upcoming fight in Louisville was "not a fight that I would have promoted, and it's not a fight that I will attend," Fletcher said at a news conference Friday.

Tyson is set to fight Danny Williams on July 30. The bout is one of Tyson's first steps toward digging out of bankruptcy.

Fletcher said he was thinking of "the image of Kentucky." Tyson served a prison sentence for rape.

Fletcher said the athletic commission's chairman, Michael Cunningham, renewed Tyson's boxing license without a hearing or consultation with other commissioners. Though it wasn't illegal, the decision "wasn't vetted as extensively as I thought it should have been," Fletcher said.

Fletcher added he would decide later how the seven-person commission should be reorganized but referred to his previous worth with the Kentucky Racing Commission, which he effectively abolished and replaced with an all-new Kentucky Horse Racing Authority.


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