Tyson Handed His Ring Return on Lewis Undercard

Mike Tyson has been cleared to appear on the undercard when Lennox Lewis defends his World Boxing Council heavyweight title at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on June 21.

The California Athletic Commission voted to allow Tyson a licence to fight in the state. Organisers had hoped to stage the promotion on the United States' east coast but New Jersey indicated that Tyson would not be permitted to box.

Lewis is most likely to defend his title against the Canadian Kirk Johnson, even though the WBC could insist on its heavyweight champion facing the No1 challenger Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine.

According to the governing body's own rules, the champion should defend against the No1 within a year of his last contest, and Lewis's last fight was in Memphis last June when he defeated Tyson.

But the WBC faces potential financial ruin after a US court ordered it to pay £19.7m compensation to the German Graciano Rocchigiani, whom the sanctioning body illegally stripped of the WBC light-heavyweight title in 1998. Roy Jones won the vacant crown and defended it.

The WBC has filed for bankruptcy in a move that will allow it to continue trading, at least for now, and delay financial settlement with Rocchigiani. It will be keen to give the Lewis-Johnson fight title status to bring much-needed funds intoits accounts.

Klitschko's German backer Universum has already threatened legal action against Lewis, who backed out of a proposed fight this month with Klitschko for which Universum says it had a signed contract, and it may also feel it could force the WBC to honour its own rules.

Most likely Klitschko will be offered step-aside money, allowing Lewis to face Johnson. Tyson is set to face the Uzbek Oleg Maskaev.