U.S. Court sets trial to block Rahman from China

John Phillips

A U.S. court has set a June 11 trial date for former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis's lawsuit seeking to block new champion Hasim Rahman's planned title defense in China, Lewis's U.S. lawyer said on Friday.

Lewis claims Rahman had agreed to give him a rematch before fighting anyone else.

U.S. District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum would also hear promoter Cedric Kushner's claim that he, and not Don King, is Rahman's promoter, Lewis's lawyer Judd Burstein told Reuters.

King signed Rahman to a promotion contract last week, claiming that Kushner's deal to stage Rahman's fights had expired.

Cedarbaum also rejected former champion Mike Tyson's bid to stop a Lewis-Rahman rematch in the event that Lewis wins the trial, Burstein said.

Tyson had claimed that as the World Boxing Council's (WBC) number-one contender he is next in line to fight Rahman for the WBC title.

Burstein said that if Lewis won in court, Rahman's scheduled August 5 first defense of the title he won last month would be called off.

Rahman had been set to fight Brian Nielson in Beijing on a card that will include World Boxing Association heavyweight champion John Ruiz against former champion Evander Holyfield.

Rahman holds the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation titles.

"I gave (Rahman) the chance of a lifetime, and he then refused to live up to his end of the bargain," Lewis said in a statement.

"Obviously, he is afraid to fight me because that will be the end of what will turn out to be a very short gravy train. After the trial, he will have no choice but to fight me," Lewis said.

The judge set aside June 11, 12, 18 for the trial, and Burstein said he would be surprised if it did not end on the 18th.