Tyson Back in Ring With Lewis in View

Mike Tyson returns to the ring on February 22 to fight his fellow American Clifford Etienne and the former world heavyweight champion may then be put forward for a summer rematch with Lennox Lewis - if he can regain some semblance of credibility with an impressive victory.

Tyson's first fight since his crushing eight-round knockout by Lewis in June will take place at the same venue, the Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee. The cheapest seats for the Lewis fight sold at $250 but cheap seats for Tyson- Etienne may be bought for only $25 (£16), according to organisers.

Etienne, 32, nicknamed the Black Rhino, did not begin his boxing career until he was 28, having served 10 years of a 40-year jail sentence for armed robbery at the Dixon Correctional Facility in Louisiana. Now he has been handpicked for Tyson's rehabilitation as a fighter.

With 24 wins and a draw - against Frans Botha, a former Tyson opponent, in his last fight - Etienne has a decent record but may not have the punching power to beat the old champion even if, at 36, Tyson is little more than a shell of a once-awesome fighter.

More important, perhaps, Etienne's chin is not one of the best. He was floored twice by Botha, who is not renowned as a big puncher, and Tyson's power may prove decisive.

A clause within the terms of the first Lewis-Tyson fight stipulated the possibility of a rematch but any second fight would be considerably less attractive to the all- important pay-per-view television audience.

Lewis has been pencilled in to defend his World Boxing Council title against Vitali Klitschko in March but the Ukrainian, the former World Boxing Organisation champion, must first beat Larry Donald in Germany this weekend.

Tyson attended a Nevada State Athletic Commission disciplinary hearing in Las Vegas where his friend Fernando Vargas was banned from box ing for nine months and fined $100,000 for failing a drugs test after losing a world light-middleweight title fight against Oscar De La Hoya on September 14.

Vargas's sample contained the anabolic steroid stanozolol but the 24-year-old Californian claimed it had got into his body through a spiked nutritional supplement.

"I don't need to cheat to win," he said. "Taking steroids is like cheating, and I'm sorry this has happened. It wasn't my intention but I take full responsibility because I'm the one who ultimately put the stuff in my body."

Tyson, often seen at ringside when Vargas fights, said he thought his friend had made a genuine mistake and added: "It was innocent and he's just naive, but he'll grow from this."

Vargas's promoter Kathy Duva is still hoping to secure a rematch for Vargas against De La Hoya. She said: "Fernando said he would take full responsibility and he did, so now we move on. There's still a bright future for this young man."