Foreman may return to ring at 55 if Lewis loses

GEORGE FOREMAN will consider making a comeback to heavyweight boxing, at the age of 55, if Lennox Lewis loses his world championship at the weekend.

The very notion that a man that old, even one with Foreman's pedigree, should contemplate lacing up the gloves is preposterous. Yet the bald American, one of the most ferocious fighters of his time, insisted: "I'm very serious."

There is that important proviso. Foreman conceded he would only seek to win a world championship for the third time if Ukrainian outsider Vitali Klitschko springs a surprise by claiming Lewis's World Boxing Council belt at the Staples Centre in LA tomorrow.

Such is the lack of interest in the fight that there will be no money-spinning pay-per-view for the event. Instead, the bout will be shown live on the HBO television station, meaning little incentive for fans to buy tickets. And, according to Russ Young, whose company Prize Fight Promotions put up the money close to $4 million for the fight, only about half of the 16,000 tickets have been sold.

Foreman, who will be at ringside giving expert analysis on the bout for HBO, wouldn't dare go in against Lewis. "He's too big, he's experienced and he has reach," he told the New York Post. "Get Lewis out of the business, I could come back tomorrow.

"I've been serious about this all along. I've told people for the last five or six years that at 55 I'm coming back. At my 55th birthday in January it's going to take a lot of persuasion for me not to come back. I've never given up my training, though I don't spar. I figure no one should hit you for free."

Foreman's declaration of intent comes on the day Emanuel Steward, Lewis's trainer, revealed the Londoner had made a vow never to come back once he had retired.

Steward said: "When he quits, he is quitting for good."