Boxing: Lewis lines up Klitschko brothers and Tyson

Tony Kelshaw,Steve Bunce
Sunday 01 December 2002 20:00 EST
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Rather than the final fanfare which many expected, Lennox Lewis has revealed that he hopes his bout with Vitali Klitschko in the spring will be the first of a three-fight sequence.

Talks of retirement were in the air following the 37-year-old's June demolition of Mike Tyson in Memphis, but now Lewis looks set to take on the 6ft 8in Ukrainian in March, then give Tyson a rematch and finally face Klitschko's brother Wladimir, the current World Boxing Organisation heavyweight champion.

"I am intending to defend my WBC title against Vitali Klitschko on March 8," the World Boxing Council champion said. "My negotiating team has a preliminary agreement in place for that fight, as well as fights against Mike Tyson and Wladimir Klitschko if I decide to continue fighting after the Vitali Klitschko fight."

Back at the Everton Park Sports Centre in Liverpool on Saturday night, in a fight that should never have taken place, Earl Foskin had to be rescued by the referee before the end of the first round in a mismatch for the Commonwealth welterweight title against James Hare.

Hare, from Huddersfield, was elevated from eight-round status to Commonwealth title defence when the local lightweight David Burke was denied the chance to defend his own Commonwealth title because his opponent James Armah failed to arrive from Ghana.

The fight was essentially over before it had even started because it was obvious who would win and, even if looks can be deceiving, the record books seldom lie and Hare's unbeaten sequence of 24 compared favourably with the 15 fights that Foskin has managed in 10 years as a professional in Jamaica.

Twenty four hours earlier there was a world title fight of sorts across Liverpool at the Olympia between Peter Coleshaw and South Africa's Ncedo Cecane for the vacant World Boxing Federation Super flyweight title.

When it was over after 12 quality rounds, that included a lively eighth when Coleshaw looked in danger of going down, the decision was unanimous in favour of the home-town boxer. Coleshaw made a small piece of British boxing history when he became the first fighter from Liverpool to win world titles at two different weights, having previously held the World Boxing Union flyweight title.

The show on Saturday, which was to have featured Burke in the main event, and the one on Friday proved again that boxing in Liverpool, a city without a quality venue, is always popular, which only added to the surprise when a title fight between Burke and the WBU lightweight champion Colin Dunne was announced for this Saturday at a venue in Essex. Dunne and Burke will meet at the Brentwood International Centre Saturday in what could be the British fight of the year.

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