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Pastimes : Boxing: The Sweet Science -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mr.mark who wrote (2016)	3/9/2001 3:26:57 PM
From: LPS5	Respond to of 10489

Lewis-Tyson matchup far from a lock Fight Notebook, by George Kimball Friday, March 9, 2001 Despite yesterday's joint announcement in London ``informing the world that talks have begun'' for a Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson heavyweight fight, that much-anticipated meeting is no closer to happening than ever. ``They can talk all they want,'' said John Ruiz' attorney Tony Cardinale as the WBA heavyweight champion arrived from Las Vegas last night. ``It would be more meaningful if the `joint announcement' had come from Ross Greenburg (HBO Sports president) and Jay Larkin (Showtime president).'' Lewis and Tyson said they had ``agreed not to posture or comment on the details,'' but what yesterday's announcement effectively means is that instead of posturing individually, they have chosen to posture jointly. The key stumbling block - Lewis is under contract to HBO and Tyson indentured to archrival Showtime - remains unaddressed, meaning that Lewis-Tyson is no closer to happening than it was a day earlier, when Lewis said ``there's no chance of it taking place in the foreseeable future.'' As for the possibility of the rival networks announcing a cooperative venture, Larkin said yesterday `they'll be selling Italian ices in hell before that happens.'' Greenburg said ``we're not going to negotiate the television deal through the press,'' while Larkin labeled yesterday's London announcement ``a meaningless fabrication.'' Since Lewis is headed for an April 21 HBO defense against Hasim Rahman in South Africa and Tyson a May 19 Showtime fight against Nigeria's David Izon, neither figured in Ruiz' immediate plans in any case. Even in the extremely unlikely event Lewis-Tyson were to take place this year, it would not disturb the new WBA champion's position in the heavyweight pecking order - though it might Evander Holyfield's. Should Lewis and Tyson seriously turn their attention to one another, Holyfield's avenues of opportunity will be limited to one option: a third fight against Ruiz. And while most speculation concerning the new WBA champion has centered around Ruiz-Holyfield III, Larkin offered up another intriguing scenario. ``The winner of this spring's David Tua-Dannell Nicholson fight will become Lewis' IBF mandatory,'' said Larkin. ``If it's Tua, I can't imagine Lewis fighting him again. They might even give up the IBF title rather than fight Tua again. This would leave Ruiz and Tua in a position for an IBF-WBA unification bout.''