Mike Tyson is ready to punch his ballot.

The boxer said he plans to vote for the first time in the 2020 presidential election.

“This election will be my 1st time voting,” Tyson tweeted Tuesday. “I never thought I could because of my felony record. I’m proud to finally vote.”

The former heavyweight champion also shared a link to help others register to vote.

Tyson, 54, served three years in prison after being convicted of rape and two counts of deviant sexual conduct in 1992, according to CNN.

While many states prohibit people convicted of felonies from voting, a law was passed in 2019 in Nevada, where Tyson lives, that restored the right to vote once someone is out of prison.

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Tyson, who last fought in 2005, has been training for a boxing comeback, and is scheduled to face Roy Jones Jr. on Nov. 28.

TENNIS

HAMBURG OPEN: French player Benoit Paire was allowed to compete in the tournament despite twice testing positive for the coronavirus, he said.

Paire retired from his opening-round match while trailing Casper Ruud 6-4, 2-0 because of what the ATP Tour said was “dizziness.”

Paire withdrew from the U.S. Open after testing positive and spent more than a week in isolation. He then played at the Italian Open last week, losing in the first round.

According to German news agency dpa, Paire said he twice tested positive while in Hamburg but then had a negative test. Paire said he was not sure if he would play at the French Open, which begins Sunday, and would end his season early if he isn’t allowed to compete.

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SOCCER

MLS: Rookie Henry Kessler scored his first MLS goal and the New England Revolution beat the visiting Montreal Impact, 3-1.

Kessler gave New England a 1-0 lead in first-half stoppage time by settling a deflected corner kick with his chest and sending it inside the post.

Gustavo Bou and Diego Fagundez also scored for the Revolution.

SPAIN: Barcelona said that the team has reached a deal with Atletico Madrid for the transfer of striker Luis Suarez for $7 million.

Suarez was let go by Barcelona following six mostly successful seasons. He leaves as Barcelona’s third highest scorer ever with 198 goals.

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NETHERLANDS: Frank de Boer was appointed coach of the Dutch national team, succeeding Ronald Koeman, who quit to join Barcelona.

CYCLING

TOUR DE FRANCE: Two people questioned in a Tour de France doping probe around the team of former runner-up Nairo Quintana have been released without charge, a French prosecutor said Wednesday.

Police released the pair, a doctor and a physiotherapist, on Tuesday night, Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens said in a statement. Police took them in for questioning on Monday. The prosecutor said the investigation itself remains open, with more police work to be done before any decision on whether to proceed further.

Colombian rider Quintana, runner-up in 2013 and 2015 but 17th this year, has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement late Tuesday, he said police who searched his hotel room after a Tour stage in the Alps found only “perfectly legal” vitamin supplements.

He said it is taking time to clear up misunderstandings about the products, because officers weren’t immediately familiar with them.

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OLYMPICS

TOKYO GAMES: Tokyo Olympics officials are proposing that the government relax immigration regulations to allow athletes to enter the country before next year’s postponed games and train during a 14-day quarantine period, Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the organizing committee said on Wednesday.

“We have to consider the uniqueness of the athletes and also their activities,” Muto said, speaking in Japanese following a meeting of a task force considering countermeasures against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The International Olympic Committee, Tokyo city and national government officials, and members of the organizing committee are holding virtual meetings on Thursday and Friday focused on finding ways to hold the delayed Olympics during a pandemic.

The organizing committee and the IOC have said for months they are considering many scenarios for how the games can open on July 23, 2021, but have offered nothing specific.

IOC President Thomas Bach, who will address the online meetings on Thursday, has said a vaccine and rapid testing would help, but added there is no “silver bullet” that will allow the Olympics to automatically happen.

Bach and new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga spoke for 15 minutes on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said. They talked about pulling off the games, and Bach said he hoped to soon visit Japan.

Muto summed up dealing with so many disparate and often competing interests representing 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes, officials, coaches, sponsors — not to mention the question of Japanese and foreign fans.

“How we are going to decide is something we have to decide,” Muto said. “But we haven’t discussed by when we have to decide.”


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