This article was first published 21 years ago

No rematch with Tyson, says Lewis

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June 05, 2003 11:09 IST

World heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis says Mike Tyson is scared of him and there is no chance of a rematch between the two.

"I won't ever fight Tyson again," Lewis (37) told British newspapers on Thursday from his training camp in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, US.

"That's over. He's seriously scared of me and his time has passed," added the Briton, who will fight for the first time in more than a year when he takes on Canadian Kirk Johnson (30) in Los Angeles on June 21.

"He (Tyson) must have had bad dreams about the beating I gave him in Memphis last June."

Lewis is widely accepted as the heavyweight champion after his eight-round demolition of former title-holder Tyson last year, although boxing politics ensures there are several versions of the crown held by different fighters.

The World Boxing Council may not sanction the fight with Johnson due to objections from German-based Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko,

who believes he should be Lewis's opponent.

Lewis said he had banished thoughts of quitting the ring and believes he had two or three more meaningful fights left in him.

"I have been having thoughts about retirement," he told British newspapers. "A lot of different things happened to me in my year out of the ring.

It wasn't until a few months ago that I really said 'You know what? I'm going back in there'.

It struck me that there were two or three fights still out there for me and still within me.

Most definitely I've been thinking about retiring on a last big super-fight -- it could be Vitali Klitschko or Roy Jones."

Jones (34) beat John Ruiz in Las Vegas in March to win the World Boxing Association heavyweight crown, becoming the first fighter in 106 years to capture world titles in the middleweight, light-heavy and heavyweight categories.

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