Tyson Wants Michigan License to Be Reinstated

Mike Tyson is applying to have his Michigan boxing license reinstated in a possible attempt to fight heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in Detroit.

Jerome P. Barney, chairman and chief financial officer of Detroit-based All World International Network LLC, said Thursday that Tyson’s application was expected to be delivered today to the state Athletic Board of Control.

Barney said he was confident he could win state approval and persuade Tyson and Lewis to hold a June fight at Joe Louis Arena.

Barney said Detroit’s long history of boxing and the presence of downtown casinos make it an ideal place to hold what he called “the fight of the new millennium.”

“This is going to be world news,” he said. “Detroit is going to be a world stage.”

Shelly Finkel, Tyson’s advisor, said the chances that Tyson would choose to fight in Michigan are “very high.” He said he was working on a deal that would bring the fight to the state.

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World light-heavyweight boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. plans to speak today with International Olympic Committee member Sandra Baldwin regarding the controversial decision that cost Jones a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Games.

Baldwin, the U.S. Olympic Committee president who was made an IOC member at the Salt Lake City Games, had said she would take up Jones’ case in the aftermath of another controversial decision last month involving a Canadian pairs figure skating duo, who were awarded a duplicate gold medal several days after improper judging was uncovered.

Most ringside observers believed that Jones easily had won the fight. Later, according to minutes from the IOC’s board meeting, boxing judges at those Games acknowledged receiving $300 a day from South Korean officials, purportedly for meals and taxi rides.

An employee of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman and a woman were found dead with gunshot wounds to the head in a car registered to the boxer, Baltimore police said.

The man and woman were identified as Oliver L. McCafferty, 29, and Lisa R. Brown, 28.

Investigators said they don’t believe Rahman was involved in the shootings.

Sgt. Kevin Daniels, a police spokesman, said investigators “have no known suspects or motives.”

Tennis

Top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt fought off four match points and won the final five points of a third-set tiebreaker to beat Paradom Srichaphan, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the Siebel Open at San Jose.

Todd Martin beat defending champion Greg Rusedski, 6-3, 7-6 (5). James Blake also advanced to the quarterfinals, beating Belgium’s Xavier Malisse, 6-3, 6-1.

Second-seeded Andre Agassi beat Sargis Sargsian, 6-2, 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals. Third-seeded Andy Roddick beat Davide Sanguinetti, 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 6-3.

Top-seeded Jennifer Capriati won her first match in the State Farm Women’s Tennis Classic, defeating Alexandra Stevenson, 6-4, 6-4, at Scottsdale, Ariz. In a night match, Nathalie Dechy of France beat fourth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy, 7-5, 6-2.... Anna Kournikova advanced to the semifinals of the Abierto Mexicano Pegaso tournament in Acapulco after defeating Slovakia’s Janette Husarova, 6-3, 6-4. Kournikova, seeking her first WTA Tour title, will face Slovakia’s Katarina Srebotnik, a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 winner over fourth-seeded Cristina Torrens Valero.... Defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero was forced to retire from his second-round match at the $1-million Dubai Open in the United Arab Emirates because of a thigh injury. Younes El Aynaoui was leading, 7-5, 4-6, 2-1, when a left thigh strain forced Ferrero to quit.

The U.S. Tennis Assn. selected Charlotte, N.C., to be the site for a first-round Federation Cup series against Austria next month. The U.S. team, led by captain Billie Jean King, will face the Austrians on clay in a best-of-five series April 27-28 at the Olde Providence Racquet Club.

Soccer

The governing body of European soccer called for an investigation into an accusation that bribes were paid to ensure Sepp Blatter’s election as FIFA president.

Farah Addo, a vice president of the governing body of African soccer, said he was offered money to support Blatter in his race against Lennart Johansson, president of the Union of European Football Associations.

He refused to identify the name or nationality of the person who offered the payment.

Miscellany

Mac McWhorter, Georgia Tech’s interim coach for one game after George O’Leary resigned, was hired as an assistant at Texas and will coach offensive tackles and tight ends.

Paul Clause, president of the Long Beach Ice Dogs since 1999, will resign at the end of the season to pursue other business opportunities.

Seeking to defend a new Florida law restricting public access to autopsy photos, Dale Earnhardt’s family joined a court case challenging the law.

The late NASCAR driver’s family said it was admitted as a “friend of the court.”

Passings

Dana Marie Black, a former Alta Loma High softball standout, committed suicide in her team’s locker room at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., school officials confirmed.

The 19-year-old’s body was found Wednesday night by a teammate.

The Rancho Cucamonga native was pronounced dead at the scene by Carter Payne, the Cabell County medical examiner.

Greg Losey, a member of the silver medal-winning U.S. modern pentathlon team at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, died of pancreatic cancer in San Antonio. Losey, who became a high-level triathlon competitor after competing in pentathlon, was 52.