Hopefully ex-Tyson foe will spare us the comeback

Peter McNeeley failed to appear Thursday before the Massachusetts Boxing Commission, which was to have heard his application for the reinstatement of his boxing license, making moot the issue of whether the troubled heavyweight should fight again. McNeeley (47-7), who hasn’t fought in six years (and hasn’t won in seven) had earlier said he wanted to mount a comeback because he and his girlfriend were expecting a baby and he needed the money.

A dozen years ago McNeeley was Mike Tyson’s get-out-of-jail present, but was disqualified in the first round of their nationally-televised bout at the MGM Grand  when manager Vinny Vecchione jumped into the ring to rescue him from Tyson. He lost four of his last six bouts (to Brian Nielsen, Butterball Esch, Henry Akinwande and Michael Bernardo). His last win came in 2000, when he stopped Joe Siciliano, a 43 year-old Leominster (Mass.) policeman who had had one pro fight, on a first-round technical knockout.

Once known as “The Hurricane,” McNeeley had two celebrated run-ins with the law last year. He was arrested in March of 2006 and charged with rolling a drunk emerging from the Shamrock Pub in Norwood, MA. Later last summer he was jailed for having driven the getaway car in a botched armed robbery of a Stoughton pharmacy.

McNeeley had hoped to fight next Saturday on a card promoted by Steve Monroe at Freeport Hall in Dorchester, Mass. That show will go on despite The Hurricane’s absence, with the main event a rematch between Brockton cruiserweight Tim Flamos and Pennsylvania southpaw Albert Cheeseboro, who won a majority decision over Flamos earlier this year.