Tyson tussle tumbles in Tennessee

The Lennox Lewis - Mike Tyson saga hit yet another hitch yesterday when another possible venue for the fight fell through.

Representatives from both parties cancelled a trip to Tennessee yesterday after local promoters failed to come up with the £12.5m site fee needed to secure the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, leaving the much-hyped heavyweight grudge match in even more doubt.

Fight organisers are still confident that the bout will go ahead, but representatives for both men have now set a Monday deadline for the Memphis venue to be set.

Memphis promoter Brian Young is confident of securing the finance in time to meet that deadline. "It's just a matter of putting everybody on the same Page," he said.

"The money is solid, the venue has been approved by everybody and Mike Tyson's license has been done. We feel good in our position."

This is of course is not the first stumbling block to hit the fight with boxing authorities across the United States refusing to grant Mike Tyson a licence or stage the fight at all.

If the site money is raised then it is hoped that the fight will take place in June as originally planned at the Pyramid Arena-which has a capacity of 21,000-and is home to the NBA team Memphis Grizzlies.

Meanwhile Naseem Hamed has agreed a date of May 18 for his rearranged fight with Manuel Calvo.

The fight at the London Arena had been postponed due to Hamed suffering a bad back in training.

The fight will be Hamed's first in 13 months following his unanimous points defeat against Mexican Antonia Barrera.