Boxing: Lewis considers BBC fight deal

Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson will fight on the same night at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles on 21 June in two fights that could be televised by the BBC.

Lewis and Tyson were due to go head to head for their rematch on the same night but for a variety of reasons, mostly financial, the pair have been kept apart a little longer and if they both win, and win in style, in Los Angeles they will meet in November.

The fights will be screened live in the United States on HBO, the satellite company that controls Lewis's career. However, there is a chance that British viewers will be able to watch the two boxers on the BBC instead of Sky.

It is understood that Lewis has managed to negotiate the right to sell both his fight and Tyson's to the world, and, as his promotional company Lion already has an agreement with the BBC, there is a chance that Lewis will again fight on terrestrial TV.

Tyson is expected to fight New York-based Russian Oleg Maskaev over 10 rounds and Lewis is scheduled to meet Canadian Kirk Johnson for the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Organisation heavyweight titles.

However, Johnson and his management group have not yet delivered a signed contract to the offices of Lewis's company in London, and there is a chance that the towering but flawed Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko could meet Lewis. Klitschko recently initiated legal proceedings against the WBC to secure a long overdue fight against Lewis.

If Lewis and Lion decide to barter the 21 June date with the BBC in an attempt to secure more domestic dates it could lead to a bidding war with Sky, who have shown most of Lewis's fights during the last decade. The last of Lion's three-fight deal with the BBC takes place on Saturday when Commonwealth heavyweight champion Danny Williams defends his title against Australia's Bob Mirovic at the Fountain Leisure Centre in Brentford.