Impasse Might Promote Tyson-Foreman : Boxing: Holyfield’s promoter and King can’t agree on terms for a fight between the current and former heavyweight champions.

All signs Saturday pointed to a Mike Tyson-George Foreman fight in the fall, unless Tyson promoter Don King can make a deal with heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield’s promoter, Dan Duva.

On the morning after Tyson won a convincing decision over Razor Ruddock, breaking Ruddock’s jaw in the process, King indicated a Holyfield-Tyson match for November was all but hopeless, that Foreman was Tyson’s “most likely” next opponent.

“There are two opponents out there we want, Holyfield and Foreman, and the way things are now, whichever one signs first with us will be the one we go with,” he said. King said Foreman would earn $15 million for fighting Tyson.

Foreman confirmed that negotiations have begun.

“My brother, Roy, was at the Tyson-Ruddock fight, he asked for a $1-million check from King, sort of a deposit, and he got it,” Foreman said from his home in Houston.

“I am definitely interested in fighting Tyson, but I want to talk it over with my adviser, Ron Weathers, before I make any decisions,” Foreman said.

Foreman noted that when he launched his 1987 comeback, it was geared to meet Tyson in a championship fight, not Evander Holyfield, to whom he lost a decision last April--and earned about $15 million.

“Tyson was the guy I wanted, but when he lost to Buster Douglas, that changed everything and I wound up fighting Holyfield for the title,” he said. “Really, because he’s a short guy, I feel confident about fighting Tyson.”

Waiting in the wings is unbeaten Riddick Bowe. The 6-foot-5 Bowe stopped Rodolfo Marin in the second round Friday on the Tyson-Ruddock undercard, and his manager, Brock Newman, sounded hopeful.

“If Holyfield winds up fighting Foreman again, then we get Tyson, I’m confident of that,” Newman said.

“First, Don has told me he must explore the possibilities of getting Holyfield or Foreman for Mike, and I understand that.”

Moments after the fight Friday, Tyson indicated he would fight Ruddock a third time, but there was little discussion of that possibility Saturday.

Ruddock’s broken jaw was set Friday night at Las Vegas Valley Hospital. He was the second heavyweight on the Mirage card Friday night to wind up in a hospital; Marin’s jaw was broken in two places during his two rounds against Bowe.

Tyson said the 12-round fight took its toll on him, too.

“I feel this morning like 20 guys beat me up last night,” he said.

As did King, Tyson seemed to rule out a bout with Holyfield this year.

“Eventually, we’ll fight--in some part of next year,” he said. “I will fight for the title again. In reality, I am the champion. He (Holyfield) just happens to have the belt. Razor would stop Holyfield quick, if they fought.”

Of a Holyfield bout, King claimed Duva and Holyfield’s pay-per-view network, TVKO, were blocking the fight by demanding options on future Tyson fights, which TVKO president Seth Abraham has denied.

Duva has offered Tyson $15 million to fight Holyfield, who would earn more than $25 million. King said Saturday that he wanted $25 million for Tyson.

Weathers said King was trying to use Foreman as leverage to force better terms from Duva.

“My guess is Holyfield will fight Foreman again,” Weathers said. “George would take a Tyson fight on a heartbeat, but I don’t think Tyson wants any part of George. We offered King a fight a year ago, we even told him he could promote it, and he backed out.”