Rahman says he will fight Tyson when he is ready

Hasim Rahman has dismissed Mike Tyson's demand for the first crack at his world heavyweight titles, saying on Saturday that he alone would decide when the time was right to fight his fellow American.

Tyson wants Rahman to meet him next but the champion said: "I am not interested in what he wants. He is not the champ, he's a contender. We'll give him a chance when we want to."

Rahman took the World Boxing Council (WBC) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) belts from Lennox Lewis when he knocked the Briton out in the fifth round in South Africa last week.

His promoter, Cedric Kushner, said the odds were 50-50 on which of the two former champions Rahman would fight first.

Rahman must decide from whom he will take the millions of dollars sure to be offered for his next fight, which estimates say will be at least $10 million -- he received about $1.5 million to fight Lewis.

A return match with Lewis is one of the conditions of the contract Rahman signed to get the fight with the former WBC and IBF champion.

The question now is whether Rahman will, and can legally, take an interim fight.

Kushner said he believes the contract allows an interim fight and that, contrary to rumours, there is nothing to stop his man fighting Tyson before taking on Lewis again.

Rahman seems unconcerned whether it is Tyson or Lewis next. "It doesn't matter to me," he said, "just one of those two."

Kushner said both of the main pay-per-view television broadcasters, HBO and Showtime, had made offers to Rahman, but he declined to give any further details.

Rahman was asked if he noticed any flaws that enabled him to knock Lewis out.

"Every time I gave Lewis a flick (feint) he moved. I flicked to the right and he flicked the other way, I flicked this way (to the left), I saw him move," he said, indicating he thought Lewis would move into his right hand if Rahman feinted left.

"I felt I had him in trouble from the right hand (just before the knockout). He gave me a little smirk and a smile, so I felt the right hand could do some damage."

Rahman was asked to assess Lewis's heart, which has been questioned throughout his career mostly because the Briton is a methodical, cautious fighter, not a crowd-pleasing brawler.

Rahman reeled off at least 10 of the opponents Lewis has dispatched in his career and said: "You can't question his heart with all of his accomplishments."

The new champion said he felt he owed Lewis a return because the Briton had given him the opportunity to fight for the title, but indicated his next fight would be the one with the biggest payday.

Rahman was far from complimentary about Lewis with regard to training in the high altitude of Brakpan, South Africa -- the venue for last week's fight.

The former champion has been roundly criticised for only showing up two weeks before the fight and not getting conditioned for the altitude.

Rahman trained there for about eight weeks and said he didn't think even that was enough time to get acclimatised.

He said he was surprised at the "arrogance" of Lewis to dismiss "scientific evidence" that the body needs special conditioning for that altitude.