Tyson-Lewis tickets could set boxing gate record

(Memphis, Tennessee-AP) -- Memphis may play host to the richest boxing fight ever on June eighth. <br><br>If ticket sales for the Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis title bout go as expected beginning today, the

Wednesday, April 24th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Memphis, Tennessee-AP) -- Memphis may play host to the richest boxing fight ever on June eighth.

If ticket sales for the Mike Tyson-Lennox Lewis title bout go as expected beginning today, the fight could gross nearly 19 (m) million dollars just from the live gate.

That amount would surpass the nearly 17 (m) million dollars that Lewis and Evander Holyfield brought in nearly three years ago in Las Vegas.

Lewis' promoter Gary Shaw says no one ever thought Memphis would ``host the biggest fight of all time.''

Ringside tickets for the biggest fights in Las Vegas are generally 15-hundred dollars. They'll cost 24-hundred dollars for the Memphis bout.

Helping fuel sales will be an influx of British fans expected to buy as many as five thousand seats to cheer on Lewis.

The fight is also expected to do big business on pay-per-view sales.