Boxing: Lewis' title belt stays home for next bout

LOS ANGELES - Britain's Lennox Lewis will not be defending his World Boxing Council crown when he fights Canada's Kirk Johnson in Los Angeles on June 21, and Mike Tyson is not yet signed to fight on the same heavyweight card.

Those details were revealed yesterday when promoters announced the fight card for Staples Centre, a venue secured in part because California agreed to give Tyson a licence to fight.

Tyson was expected to fight Oleg Maskaev, of Kazakhstan, but had not yet signed a contract, said promoter Gary Shaw.

"We just haven't completed a deal for Mike to fight on this card, but we are cautiously optimistic."

Lewis was not worried about Tyson, 50-4 with 44 knockouts. His addition to the card could mean tens of millions of dollars in pay-per-view sales.

"Were optimistic about it. I'm not really worried about that right now," Lewis said. "I'm the champion. With Tyson on the card, it's an added bonus."

The WBC had threatened to strip Lewis of his crown if he did not face Vitali Klitschko, the top-ranked challenger from Ukraine, or Tyson, who said he needed more fights before a rematch with the man who knocked him out last June.

Instead, the WBC will not sanction the fight against Johnson. The only true crown at stake for Lewis is the "linear" title, going to the man who beat the prior champion in the ring, regardless of sanctioning body decisions.

"That's the biggest belt out there. There is no higher," Lewis said.

Adrian Ogun, Lewis' manager, said that if the favoured Lewis beat Johnson, talks were set to begin in July for a bout with Klitschko.

Ogun blamed Klitschko's promoter for their $7.28 million offer to the fighter being rejected.

Lewis justified fighting Johnson by saying he is a more dangerous opponent than Chris Byrd, the International Boxing Federation champion who won the title Lewis gave up rather than fight him.

"I can't fight everybody at once. I have to take them one at a time," Lewis said. "Kirk Johnson is a more exciting fighter than Chris Byrd. Kirk throws some heavy punches. He's a knockout puncher. He's dangerous. I think he's well deserving of a shot."

Lewis, who had considered retirement, said he planned another fight this year after Johnson.

Lewis, 37, was born in England but raised in Canada. He is 40-2 with one drawn and 31 knockouts and will not have fought for more than a year since his eighth-round knockout of Tyson in June in Memphis.

Johnson, 30, is 34-1 with one draw and 25 knockouts. He stopped Lou Savarese in the fourth on March 15 but was disqualified for low blows last July in losing to John Ruiz for the World Boxing Association title. AFP