Tyson rejects Lewis compensation bid for foul move

Mike Tyson's camp have rejected world champion Lennox Lewis's request for financial compensation should the American commit a foul move in their planned heavyweight title clash in June, Tyson's lawyer said on Monday.

"To even raise these types of issues takes some nerve," Jeff Fried was quoted as saying in Britain's Sun newspaper. "When I hear about a request like monetary compensation for a foul, I have to ask, will it be reciprocal?

"Can Lennox foul Mike? What would that cost? It's something I simply shake my head at," added Fried.

Briton Lewis, 36, who holds the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation belts, accused Tyson of biting a chunk out of his leg at a news conference brawl in New York in January.

Tyson, 35, was banned from boxing for a year after biting a chunk out of Evander Holyfield's ear in their world title bout in Las Vegas in 1997.

The exact date and venue for the Lewis-Tyson contest have yet to be arranged.

Washington boxing authorities voted last week to give Tyson a licence to fight at the city's MCI Center, tentatively on June 8, but other states including Tennessee and Michigan have also expressed interest in holding the bout.

"We have some things in place and we are still working on others, but it is very close," Tyson's manager Shelly Finkel was quoted as saying in The Sun.