Boxing: Tyson sues for first shot at Rahman

NEW YORK - The fight over who Hasim Rahman fights next ­ Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis is proving more convoluted and much harder than anything the new heavyweight champion might be involved with in the ring.

Tyson stepped up the pressure by going to court to push his claim over the weekend, filing a suit in the US District Court in Manhattan to force Rahman to meet him rather than taking a rematch with Lewis, whom Rahman knocked out in the fifth round in South Africa last month.

"The action I took today was not something that I wanted to do, but needed to do," Tyson said in a statement yesterday.

"There are people trying to abuse the system to prevent me from an opportunity to fight the new heavyweight champion."

There was a rematch clause in the Rahman-Lewis contract, and Lewis contends Rahman should fight no one else before he fights him.

The American television company HBO, who have a contract with Lewis, want the rematch to be held in September.

The complication arises because when Rahman beat Lewis to claim both the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council heavyweight titles, he also inherited the obligation of a WBC mandatory defence.

That would be against Tyson, who is officially the WBC's No 1 contender. Shelly Finkel, Tyson's adviser, says the lawsuit filed this weekend seeks to make the WBC conform to their rules, which, he claims, forbid an automatic rematch.

At the moment, Tyson is scheduled to fight David Izon on 2 June in Washington DC, for HBO's American rivals Showtime, who have a contract with Tyson.

Rahman is not contracted to either HBO or Showtime. The Izon fight would be cancelled should Tyson get a shot at Rahman.

"I have nothing but respect for Mr Rahman and his recent accomplishments," Tyson said.

"He has publicly stated that he wants to fight me next. Rahman v Tyson is the fight the public most wants to see. I hope this helps clear the path for us to meet very soon."

As for Rahman, his handlers claim the fighter himself will have the final say as to who he takes on.

"I don't tell the fighter what to do," said his promoter, Cedric Kushner, who presented offers from both the Lewis and Tyson camps to Rahman's manager, Stan Hoffman, late last week.

Kushner, though, appeared to take the Tyson view that Rahman can take an interim fight before facing Lewis again. Seconds out in the courtroom.

- INDEPENDENT