Lewis says rematch with Tyson still could happen

Lennox Lewis says his next fight may be a rematch with Mike Tyson in June.

Talks for a proposed bout in April between Lewis and Vitali Klitschko have collapsed, Judd Burnstein, Lewis' attorney, said Friday.

Burnstein said Lewis will watch how Tyson does Feb. 22 against Clifford Etienne in Memphis.

"Now that there will be no April fight, Lennox has a contractual obligation to consider Mike Tyson as his June opponent and looks forward to seeing how Tyson performs in his February fight against Clifford Etienne," Burnstein said.

Lewis stopped Tyson in the eighth round of their much-anticipated heavyweight championship fight June 8, and neither fighter has fought since. Both fighters had a rematch clause in their contracts for that fight.

Lewis had been expected to defend his WBC heavyweight title against Klitschko, the organization's No. 1 contender. Lewis is under contract with HBO, and HBO officials said this week that Lewis was supposed to meet with them to plan his next fight.

That meeting, however, never came, and Burnstein's announcement Friday means that the 37-year-old Lewis will have gone a year between fights by the time he fights again in June.

Tyson said after being beaten badly by Lewis in Memphis that there was no way he could ever beat him, and the general consensus was a rematch between the two would be tough to sell. But Tyson began training recently in Las Vegas for the Etienne fight, and a good showing might be enough to get him a return match.