Staples Doesn’t Need Tyson

Simple question: Would you invite Mike Tyson to your house?

Didn’t think so.

But Staples Center President Tim Leiweke is ready to welcome Tyson to an arena near you if the California State Athletic Commission grants him a license.

Which is to say, if our state is ready to sink below Nevada on the integrity scale. If that’s the case, we might as well have the Big One hit now and turn Laughlin into beachfront property.

Didn’t Las Vegas used to be the place for old Tinseltown stars who had lost their luster?

Now we want to accept their boxing rejects?

The Nevada State Athletic Commission turned down Tyson and turned its back on a megamillion dollar windfall from a Tyson-Lennox Lewis fight when it denied Tyson a boxing license Tuesday.

Say what you want about the Nevada commissioners, but you can’t say they sold out. They said “enough,” when they could have said “How much?” New York, another state that needs to fill hotel rooms, already has said no to Tyson. Tyson’s manager Shelly Finkel wants to try California. If the state says yes, Leiweke sounds ready to rumble.

“Assuming they approve, yes, we would be interested, but it’s such a fluid situation right now,” Leiweke told The Times’ Steve Springer.

Allow me to dry it up.

No. Uh-uh. Heck no.

Are we clear?

Tim, you don’t want any part of this one.

At this point Tyson is nothing more than a circus act. A stale one at that. Bite, hit late, unleash a profanity-laced tirade. Or mix and match those elements, as he did at the news conference last week to promote the originally scheduled fight with Lewis at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

I’m still stunned that the folks at the MGM Grand would even let Tyson set foot in their building again. In the chaos that followed Tyson’s ear bite against Evander Holyfield, fights broke out and a gun shot was reportedly heard. Security shut down the casino and cleared it out.

Can you imagine how much money it cost MGM to have its casino out of business on a Saturday night in a big fight weekend?

For a building that has been open less than 21/2 years, Staples Center already has hosted more than its share of memorable events. Two Laker NBA championships. The De La Hoya-Mosley fight. Jennifer Lopez showing up at the Grammy Awards in “The Dress.” The Kings’ memorable comeback against the Detroit Red Wings. The U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

The NHL All-Star game is Saturday. March brings the return of the Pacific 10 Conference basketball tournament.

The venue isn’t hurting for attention. Tyson would bring the wrong kind.

Staples has survived two fights without major incidents. Why push it with this high-risk guy?

There’s also the matter of logistics. The Kings have a home game April 6, the original date for the Tyson-Lewis fight. The Clippers are home the next Saturday and the Saturday after that is the first weekend of the NBA playoffs. Leiweke said the Forum could be used if Staples Center is unavailable.

Tyson shouldn’t be allowed to fight in the state. Not the Sports Arena, not Pauley Pavilion, Arco Arena or the Cow Palace.

Staples Center already has had its bad moments.

Strike one was the violence outside after the Lakers won the championship in 2000.

Strike two was the King fans throwing debris on the ice to protest the officiating last Saturday.

Only Tyson has the multi-sports-metaphor potential to deliver a knockout blow and a third strike on the same night.

I don’t want the next batch of “Tyson is nuts” stories to carry a Los Angeles dateline.

I thought part of the appeal of hosting major events was to promote the city. We’d be better off with a nationally televised freeway chase. At least those showcase the good weather. Money? Staples Center barely broke even on the De La Hoya-Mosley fight. Tyson-Lewis could be the most lucrative fight in history, but how much of the profits will have to be plowed back into extra security? Not to keep the venue safe from terrorists, but to protect everyone from Tyson.

The state wouldn’t even get its just due if, as was the case with De La Hoya and Mosley, it reached an agreement to give the promoters a tax break because Staples can’t match the eight-figure site fees put up by casinos.

We don’t want this fight.

Then there’s another question: Does Tyson even want the fight? Everything before and after the hearing indicates he doesn’t.

Before signing the contract, he had said that he needed a couple of more warm-up fights before he was ready for Lewis. Then he went whacko at the news conference, which some longtime Tyson observers said was his way of trying to back out.

After his license was denied Tuesday, he said that he didn’t want to bother with the hearing in the first place.

“I didn’t think I was going to get licensed, but Shelly Finkel was forcing me to come anyway,” Tyson said.

If he isn’t motivated to argue his case with millions on the table, how motivated can he be to step in the ring?

Tyson’s afraid. And if he isn’t, he should be. His boxing skills look worse with every match. He no longer wins on intimidation. And the Lewis who beat Hasim Rahman in November would destroy Tyson.

Lewis fought big that night at Mandalay Bay. He used his size, he controlled the ring, he dropped heavy shots on Rahman.

It appears Tyson thinks that his only chance to beat Lewis is to make him afraid. You have no choice but to fear crazy. You don’t want to step in the ring with crazy. Tyson wants Lewis to enter the fight thinking: “What’s this guy going to do to me? Will he bite? Spit in my eye?”

If Leiweke keeps lobbying for this fight, I wouldn’t want to step in the ring with him. He’d have to be nuts.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at: ja.adande@latimes.com