Boxing: Lewis prepares for Tyson rematch

Lennox Lewis will fight on 8 March against Ukraine's Vitali Klitschko at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas – the first of three fights next year that will end with him back in Las Vegas fighting Vitali's brother, Vladimir, in November.

In the middle of the two towering Europeans Lewis, 37, will fight Mike Tyson again in a rematch that only the two fighters' respective bank managers, the executives at various television companies and sadists could possibly be interested in watching. The fight with Tyson could well take place in South Africa in the summer.

After Lewis dismantled Tyson in Memphis in June it was thought that he would retire but the chance to rake in an estimated $80m (£55m) from next year's trio of fights appears to have persuaded him to postpone announcing the end of his career for a further 12 months.

Tyson will return to the ring on 22 February in Memphis against fellow-American Clifford Etienne and if he wins that fight in style he will be asked to agree to the rematch clauses in the contracts he signed for the original Lewis fight.

The appearance of Don King in the background will concern Tyson, who is still locked in litigation with the promoter. However, it is thought that Lewis is prepared to work with King in the future to guarantee the maximum amount of money for the final three fights of his career.

King and Lewis spent some time together in Ghana recently and King explained to him that the money he was paid for beating Tyson was far less than King used to pay Tyson for beating bums. Lewis and King agreed then to work together in the future.

Meanwhile, Vitali Klitschko has to beat the former contender Larry Donald in Germany on 23 November and his younger brother has to defeat the dangerous New Yorker Jameel McCline in Las Vegas on 7 December in order to keep the retirement plans of Lewis on the back burner for the time being.