Edition: U.S. / Global

Sports of The Times; Anything Happening With Lewis-Tyson?

Published: March 20, 2001

WHEN peering into the backroom machinations of boxing, it is important to remember the latest teachings of that eminent pugilistic philospher Don King.

''This is a business based on lies,'' the inimitable promoter King proclaimed last week. ''So if you tell the truth, you're free because nobody believes you.''

While shilling for Madison Square Garden's middleweight championship tournament that will display Félix Trinidad on May 12, King professed to be telling the truth. But to many of his listeners, the awful truth was his acknowledgment that, by its nature, the boxing business is indeed based on lies. Then again, those lies are part of its charm.

It's wise to remember King's premise when trying to unravel the nonnegotiations -- King is not involved -- for the only big fight out there: Lennox Lewis defending two-thirds of the heavyweight title against the only heavyweight attraction out there. Yes, Mike Tyson.

In a simpler time, the rival managers would negotiate, say, a 60-40 split with a promoter. But in this pay-per-view era, the cable networks hold the boxers and their managers hostage. Home Box Office has a contract with Lewis. Showtime has a contract with Tyson. With each network demanding its pound of flesh, negotiations are at a standstill. Or so they say.

Jay Larkin, the Showtime executive producer for sports, said he has suggested five solutions to HBO:

*Neutral pay-per-view with a third cable operator; the Lewis and Tyson camps sharing the marketing, distribution and public-relations costs; new and neutral announcing and production crews. If Lewis wins, HBO gets the delayed telecast. If Tyson wins, Showtime gets the delay.

*Neutral pay-per-view with no delayed telecast.

*HBO does the pay-per-view; Showtime does the delay.

*Showtime does the pay-per-view; HBO does the delay.

*HBO buys out Showtime for negotiable millions.

''We also offered to let them do the fight, but give us the rematch,'' Larkin said. ''Their answer was, 'The rematch might be bigger.' So we offered to switch: we do the first one, you get the rematch. 'No.' ''

The president of HBO Sports, Ross Greenburg, was on vacation yesterday, but Kery Davis, the senior vice president for programming, said basically what Greenburg has been saying all along.

''We have not received any offers from Showtime,'' Davis insisted. ''Our door remains open. We don't want to negotiate this fight through the media.''

But quietly, HBO has made it known that it would prefer to have Lewis's people negotiate with Tyson's people in order to keep both HBO and Showtime out of what might appear to be collusion.

HBO has also reportedly offered to split the receipts 50-50, but Tyson would then pay Showtime out of his share. Showtime objected.

But sooner or later, HBO and Showtime will make a deal for a Lewis-Tyson fight, if only because there is too much money involved (some predict as much as $100 million) not to make a deal.

More than any sport, boxing is about money. Like him or not, Tyson is the magnet for those millions.

Lewis may have the title, but Tyson, whether HBO likes it or not, would be the attraction, not for his ability but for his unpredictability. Will he bite Lewis's ear? Will be shove the referee? Can his punch make him the champion again?

One theory is that HBO will eventually agree to a one-time buyout of Showtime's contract with Tyson. Twenty million dollars might do it.

Another theory is that HBO and Showtime will each do a pay-per-view telecast, as CBS and NBC each did Super Bowl I.

But for now, HBO seems to prefer its stubborn party line that could backfire on it. HBO likes to think of itself as the soul of boxing in this cable era, but at a time when boxing needs a big fight, especially a big heavyweight fight, HBO's persistence in ignoring a treaty with Showtime risks alienating some of its boxing buffs.

Lewis's title defense against a virtual unknown, Hasim Rahman, in South Africa on April 21 is not likely to do as much pay-per-view business as Tyson will on Showtime with another virtual unknown, David Izon, in a bout that might be held in Sydney, Australia, in early June. After both of those fights, maybe negotiations will heat up.

Meanwhile, remember that boxing is a business based on lies. Don King ought to know.