Lennox Lewis' world heavyweight title defence against Vitali Klitschko in April has been scrapped.
Promoters for the pair have apparently failed to reach an agreement for the contest and Lewis will instead consider a June rematch against Mike Tyson.
Lewis' attorney Judd Burnstein told BBC Sport Online: "Now that there will be no April fight, Lennox has a contractual obligation to consider Mike Tyson as his June opponent - and looks forward to seeing how Tyson performs in his February fight against Clifford Etienne."
The breakdown in negotiations has scuppered Lewis' plans for a three-fight programme which would have involved defending first against Vitali followed by Tyson again and finally Vitali's brother, the WBO champion Vladimir Klitschko.
It is unclear why the fight has been axed with an announcement of an April 12th date in Las Vegas seemingly imminent. Both promotional camps were in America putting the finishing touches to the deal.
Ukrainian Klitschko had told an American television show last week that all contracts for the bout were signed and that April 12 was definite - although this was subsequently denied by his promoters.
With the elder Klitschko now out of the picture and three of the other contenders - John Ruiz, Roy Jones and Chris Byrd - preparing to engage in Don King's unification tournament, Tyson is now back on top of Lewis' agenda.
However a rematch is hardly mouth-watering and would do little but boost the champion's bank balance after the humiliating eight-round defeat he inflicted on Tyson in Memphis last June.
And the clearly fading Tyson is by no means certain to come through his bout next month with Etienne unscathed.
Equally, apart from the younger Klitschko there is little point in Lewis taking on any of the others in a patchy bunch of young pretenders.
PA