$3.2-Million Lewis-Johnson Replay Reportedly Planned

Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis will meet in a $3.2-million rematch of their Olympic 100-meter final two days after Johnson’s suspension for drug use expires, it was reported today.

The Daily Express, a mass-circulation British newspaper, said U.S. boxing promoter Bob Arum was lining up the race in Barcelona for Sept. 25, 1990.

“I don’t know how news of this got out,” the newspaper quoted Arum as saying. “There is a lot of money riding on it. I am not prepared to make any other comment.”

“People have talked to me about it--period,” Arum told the Associated Press by telephone from Las Vegas. “But it’s so premature now it’s almost laughable.”

Johnson beat Lewis in the Olympic final in Seoul in September, 1988, but two days later was stripped of the gold medal after testing positive for steroids. He was suspended for two years by track’s international federation but will be eligible to compete internationally next September.