Memphis still in running to host Tyson-Lewis bout

NEW YORK -- A line in "Beale Street Blues" goes, "If Beale Street could talk."

If it could, it might be saying that Mike Tyson's challenge to heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis could end up in Memphis, Tenn., despite Tyson getting a boxing license Tuesday to fight at Washington, D.C.

Tyson also has been granted a boxing license by Tennessee, and Shelly Finkel, the boxer's adviser, said Wednesday, "Memphis still is in the mix."

Finkel also said that he would meet Thursday with officials of the MCI Center, which would be the Washington fight site, "and that will give us a better handle,"

A plus for Memphis, Finkel said, "is the casinos, which would be involved."

There are 10 casinos in Tunica County, Miss., a county of 9,000 residents less than 30 miles from Memphis.

Casino involvement could produce a big live site fee for a Memphis fight. What kind of site fee, if any, could evolve from a Washington fight remains to be seen.

Wherever the fight is held, the date apparently for the joint pay-per-view venture of Showtime and HBO will be June 8.

The fight could produce $150 million in gross revenue, with Lewis and Tyson each getting at least $17.5 million.

Pay-per-view, which could carry a higher price that the usual $49.95, might reach 1.5 million buys. The record is the 1.99 million buys that produced $99.6 million for the Evander Holyfield-Tyson rematch (the Bite Fight) in 1997. Half of the ppv revenue goes to cable operators.

It would be the second heavyweight championship fight ever in Tennessee. Mike Weaver won the WBA title with a 15th-round knockout of John Tate on March 31, 1980, at Knoxville.