New Champion Lewis Wants to Take on Tyson Next Year

Britain’s Lennox Lewis is eager to defend his undisputed heavyweight title against Mike Tyson because “it is the most exciting fight out there.”

“He has that drawing ability,” Lewis said Wednesday in New York.

A Lewis-Tyson fight is far from imminent, though, according to Lou DiBella, who heads boxing for HBO. “The end of next year at the earliest,” he said.

Lewis said a fight with Tyson would sell because it presented questions he believed fight fans would pay to see answered.

“Is he the man he used to be? How would he cope with Lewis? How would Lewis cope with him?” Lewis said at a news conference. “He had the right moves before his trials and tribulations.”

Tyson’s camp seemed delighted.

“At the right time, the fight will happen,” said Shelly Finkel, Tyson’s manager.

Meanwhile, the Lewis-Evander Holyfield rematch set a boxing record with $16.9 million in gate receipts. However, the 850,000 pay-per-view buys fell short of the first fight’s 1.2 million. The total gate receipts broke the previous record of $14.3 million for the second Holyfield-Tyson fight on June 28, 1997.

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Promoter Don King, responding to Oscar De La Hoya’s offer in Wednesday’s Times to fight Felix Trinidad in a rematch of their September bout for only 48% of the purse, accepted that offer, though he said an agreement would still have to be reached on division of closed-circuit and pay-per-view revenue.

King said his fighter, Trinidad, would agree to fight De La Hoya in May or June at 147 pounds, the weight at which De La Hoya insists the bout must take place.

“From our standpoint, Trinidad is history,” said Bob Arum, De La Hoya’s promoter. “Our train has left the station.”

Trinidad beat De La Hoya on a decision in their first meeting and has signed to face David Reid, the World Boxing Assn. 154-pound champion, March 4 in Las Vegas.

Tennis

Overcoming a strained left hamstring, No. 2-seeded Lindsay Davenport pounded out a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Amelie Mauresmo of France to move into the quarterfinals of the Chase Championships at New York. The first round was completed when No. 3 Venus Williams survived a tough match against Conchita Martinez of Spain, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, and Germany’s Anke Huber ousted No. 8 Julie Halard-Decugis of France 6-1, 6-2.

Ending a nearly two-year search, the WTA Tour introduced Sanex, a European body-care brand, as its new worldwide sponsor. No figures were disclosed on the five-year deal, but it is believed to be worth $40 million. The WTA tour had been without a sponsor since Corel, a Canadian software company, ended its sponsorship a year ago.

Rick Leach and South Africa’s Ellis Ferreira beat Australia’s Sandon Stolle and Zimbabwe’s Wayne Black, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round-robin match at the Phoenix ATP Tour World Doubles Championship in Hartford, Conn. Alex O’Brien and Canada’s Sebastien Lareau, the world’s fourth-ranked team, beat South Africans David Adams and John-Laffnie de Jager, 6-2, 7-6.

Golf

The PGA Tour will honor the memory of Payne Stewart with an annual award that will go to the player who best represents the ideals of the two-time U.S. Open champion. Stewart was among six killed Oct. 25 in a plane crash. . . . Scotland’s Paul Lawrie, the surprise winner of the British Open, will join the PGA Tour next year.

Miscellany

Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. closed to within 16 victories of Bill Shoemaker’s all-time record of 8,833 with three wins at Hollywood Park. Pincay won the second race with 5-2 shot Icksnay, the fourth with 6-1 longshot Alert To Go and the eighth with 2-1 second choice First Journey.

America True and Stars and Stripes reinforced their positions as surprise contenders in the America’s Cup challenger series off Auckland, New Zealand. The two single-boat teams have come from behind during the second round-robin in the series to pass two-boat syndicates, including Young America and AmericaOne.

Clemente Brown Jr., the informer who helped police arrest NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor in a drug sting, apologetically appeared in court in Clearwater, Fla., three days after he was to testify, citing nervousness for his disappearance. . . . Adil Ramzi and Mustafa Hadji scored first-half goals, giving Morocco a 2-1 victory over the U.S. national soccer team in an exhibition game in Marrakech, Morocco. Eric Wynalda scored the for the U.S. men. . . . MayBelle Reichardt Hopkins, a discus thrower on the first women’s team to participate in track and field at the Olympic Games in 1928, died Nov. 4 after a brief illness at her home in Pasadena. She was 92. . . . Swimmer Chad Carvin won the 400-meter freestyle by nearly 10 seconds, breaking a 16-year-old American record at the FINA World Cup at College Park, Md.