Boxing: November date for Lewis-Holyfield bout

LENNOX LEWIS may have to wait until November for a heavyweight title rematch with Evander Holyfield, according to the British fighter's promoter, Panos Eliades.

"Evander's signed up with Don King and Don is talking to me about doing a rematch possibly as late as November of this year," he said on BBC radio. "The site is possibly Las Vegas," he added.

"Everybody wants the fight. I've had offers from Saudi Arabia. I've had offers from South Africa. But Las Vegas is the one that really wants the fight and they are pushing the price sky high. King also wants to keep it in America," Eliades said. He also said he was prepared to be the main promoter of the fight.

The first fight between Lewis, the World Boxing Council champion, and Holyfield, the World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation champion, was widely derided, with most observers concluding that the Briton had outpointed the American.

King has since publicly backed Lewis to win the rematch with Holyfield and become the first British fighter to unify the world heavyweight title this century.

King said: "Lennox Lewis will get justice in the rematch. He is a tenacious, determined young man and he will make sure that justice is done. Adversity brings these things out of great fighters, and the draw is the best thing that could have happened to Lewis to lift him from mediocrity to excellence."

Speaking on ITV's An Audience with Lennox Lewis to be broadcast next Saturday, King admitted only a Lewis victory will settle the furore bubbling up on both sides of the Atlantic since the draw was announced. "If Lennox can do it just a little bit better next time he can put the title in the throw. He has a right to claim the title for his own and make the whole world happy," added King.