| | Angry
Lewis sets Tyson deadline Lennox Lewis has accused Mike Tyson
of running scared from the match-up that every boxing fan wants to see.
Lewis
has set a 1 January, 2002 deadline for Tyson to meet him, but the Briton believes
that the fight may never happen.
Tyson has been hit with a three-month
ban for refusing to provide a urine sample to be drugs-tested, and bickering over
television rights could further delay any Lewis-Tyson showdown. Lewis has hinted
that he may retire soon, but said he was worried Tyson was just biding his time.
"Tyson is waiting for me to retire, then all of a sudden he’ll jump back
in there and pick up my belts the only way he can," said Lewis. "So I don’t want
to retire too early. He realises there’s no beating Lennox Lewis. "I’ll give Tyson
a year, but I’m not expecting him.
If he’d wanted to fight me, he would
have done it long before now." Lewis expects to defend his WBC and IBF heavyweight
titles on 21 April against an American opponent, either David Izon or Hasim Rahman.
But Tyson is the No1 contender for the WBC version of the heavyweight title and
Lewis has to make a mandatory defence against him before December.
Meanwhile,
reports in America continue to allege that Tyson tested positive for marijuana
after defeating Andrew Golota in October, but Michigan boxing regulators have
only punished him for refusing to submit to a urine test before the fight. | |